Discovery [1] | |
---|---|
Discovered by | G. Strommer |
Discovery site | Konkoly Obs. |
Discovery date | 27 August 1940 |
Designations | |
(1537) Transylvania | |
Named after | Transylvania [2] (region in Romania) |
1940 QA ·1940 QN A903 VB | |
main-belt ·(outer) [3] | |
Orbital characteristics [1] | |
Epoch 4 September 2017 (JD 2458000.5) | |
Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
Observation arc | 113.42 yr (41,428 days) |
Aphelion | 3.9677 AU |
Perihelion | 2.1361 AU |
3.0519 AU | |
Eccentricity | 0.3001 |
5.33 yr (1,947 days) | |
143.95° | |
0° 11m 5.64s / day | |
Inclination | 3.8591° |
230.07° | |
148.20° | |
Physical characteristics | |
Dimensions | 13.60 km (derived) [3] 13.77±1.5 km [4] 17.48±1.16 km [5] 20.288±0.256 km [6] 20.29±0.26 km [6] 21.49±1.58 km [7] |
12 h [8] | |
0.05±0.00 [5] 0.052±0.006 [6] 0.067±0.010 [7] 0.1047 (derived) [3] 0.1619±0.041 [4] | |
C [3] [9] | |
11.90 [7] [4] ·12.12±0.49 [9] ·12.30 [6] ·12.32 [5] ·12.4 [1] [3] | |
1537 Transylvania, provisional designation 1940 QA, is a carbonaceous asteroid and long-lost minor planet from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 17 kilometers in diameter. Discovered by Gyula Strommer in 1940, it was later named after region of Transylvania, where the discoverer was born. [10]
Transylvania was discovered on 27 August 1940, by Hungarian astronomer Gyula Strommer at the Konkoly Observatory near Budapest, Hungary. Observations of the asteroid continued at Konkoly until February 1942. It became a lost minor planet until Spring 1981, when astronomer Leif Kahl Kristensen at the University of Aarhus rediscovered it based on contemporary observations at Palomar Observatory. [10] [11]
Kristensen was able to show that Transylvania was first observed as A903 VB at Heidelberg Observatory in October 1903, and, after its observations at Konkoly in the early 1940s, it was again observed at Goethe Link Observatory in December 1962, and at Palomar in February 1981. [10] [11]
At the same time, Kristensen also rediscovered 452 Hamiltonia. With these two rediscoveries in 1981, only nine numbered minor planets remained unobserved since their discoveries: 330 Adalberta, 473 Nolli, 719 Albert, 724 Hapag, 843 Nicolaia, 878 Mildred, 1009 Sirene, 1026 Ingrid, and 1179 Mally. [11]
Transylvania is a non-family asteroid of the main belt's background population. It orbits the Sun in the outer main-belt at a distance of 2.1–4.0 AU once every 5 years and 4 months (1,947 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.30 and an inclination of 4° with respect to the ecliptic. [1]
Transylvania has been characterized as a carbonaceous C-type asteroid by PanSTARRS photometric survey. [9]
In September 2004, a rotational lightcurve of Transylvania was obtained from photometric observations by French amateur astronomer Laurent Bernasconi. Analysis of the fragmentary lightcurve gave a rotation period of 12 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.15 magnitude ( U=1 ). [8] As of 2017, no other lightcurve has been obtained, and Transylvania's period is still uncertain. [3]
According to the surveys carried out by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite IRAS, the Japanese Akari satellite and the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Transylvania measures between 13.77 and 21.49 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo between 0.05 and 0.1619. [4] [5] [6] [7]
The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link derives an albedo of 0.1047 and a diameter of 13.60 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 12.4. [3]
This minor planet was named after the historical region of Transylvania, located in what is now Romania. Formerly, it was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Transylvania is also the birthplace of the discoverer Gyula Strommer (1920–1995). [2] Transylvania was his only minor-planet discovery. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 1 February 1980 ( M.P.C. 5182). [12]
333 Badenia is a large background asteroid, approximately 72 kilometers in diameter, located the outer region of the asteroid belt. It was discovered on 22 August 1892, by astronomer Max Wolf at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory in southwest Germany. The carbonaceous C-type asteroid has a rotation period of 9.9 hours. It was named after the historical Grand Duchy of Baden that existed until 1918, and where the discovering observatory is located. Badenia was the first asteroid to receive a provisional designation.
2023 Asaph, provisional designation 1952 SA, is a dark asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 21 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 16 September 1952, by astronomers of the Indiana Asteroid Program at Goethe Link Observatory in Indiana, United States.
1118 Hanskya is a large background asteroid, approximately 77 kilometers in diameter, located in the outer regions of the asteroid belt. Discovered by Sergey Belyavsky and Nikolaj Ivanov in 1927, it was named after Russian astronomer Aleksey Hansky. The presumed dark C-type asteroid has a rotation period of 15.6 hours.
1123 Shapleya, provisional designation 1928 ST, is a stony Florian asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 11 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 21 September 1928, by Russian astronomer Grigory Neujmin at Simeiz Observatory on the Crimean peninsula. It was named after American astronomer Harlow Shapley.
1132 Hollandia, provisional designation 1929 RB1, is a stony asteroid from the middle region of the asteroid belt, approximately 27 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 13 September 1929, by Dutch astronomer Hendrik van Gent at Leiden Southern Station, annex to the Johannesburg Observatory in South Africa. It was named for the region Holland in the Netherlands.
1555 Dejan, provisional designation 1941 SA, is an asteroid from the background population of the central regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 22 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 15 September 1941, by Belgian astronomer Fernand Rigaux at the Royal Observatory of Belgium in Uccle. The asteroid was named after Dejan Đurković, son of Serbian astronomer Petar Đurković.
1806 Derice, provisional designation 1971 LC, is a stony Flora asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 10 kilometers in diameter. Discovered on 13 June 1971, at the Bickley site of the Perth Observatory in Western Australia, it was the first discovery of a minor planet ever made in Oceania. The asteroid was named after the wife of Dennis Harwood, staff member at Bickley.
4282 Endate, provisional designation 1987 UQ1, is an asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 10 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 28 October 1987, by Japanese astronomers Seiji Ueda and Hiroshi Kaneda at Kushiro Observatory (399) in Japan. It was named for amateur astronomer Kin Endate.
1452 Hunnia, provisional designation 1938 DZ1, is a carbonaceous Meliboean asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 20 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 26 February 1938, by Hungarian astronomer György Kulin at the Konkoly Observatory in Budapest. The asteroid was named in honor of the Hungarian nation.
2173 Maresjev, provisional designation 1974 QG1, is a dark background asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 28 kilometers (17 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 22 August 1974, by Soviet–Ukrainian astronomer Lyudmila Zhuravleva at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory in Nauchnij, on the Crimean peninsula. It was named for Soviet war veteran Alexey Maresyev. The assumed C-type asteroid has a tentative rotation period of 11.6 hours.
1361 Leuschneria, provisional designation 1935 QA, is a carbonaceous asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 30 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 30 August 1935, by Belgian astronomer Eugène Delporte at Uccle Observatory in Belgium, and named after American astronomer Armin Otto Leuschner.
3066 McFadden, provisional designation 1984 EO, is a stony background asteroid from the central regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 15 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 1 March 1984, by American astronomer Edward Bowell at the Anderson Mesa Station near Tucson, Arizona. It was named for American planetary scientist Lucy-Ann McFadden. The assumed S-type asteroid has a rotation period of 13.8 hours.
2043 Ortutay, provisional designation 1936 TH, is a dark asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 45 kilometers in diameter. The asteroid was discovered by Hungarian astronomer György Kulin at the Konkoly Observatory, Budapest, on 12 November 1936. It was named after Hungarian ethnographer Gyula Ortutay.
1444 Pannonia is a carbonaceous background asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 29 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 6 January 1938, by Hungarian astronomer György Kulin at Konkoly Observatory in Budapest, Hungary. It was named after the ancient province of the Roman Empire, Pannonia.
1347 Patria, provisional designation 1931 VW, is a carbonaceous asteroid from the background population of the central asteroid belt, approximately 32 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 6 November 1931, by Soviet astronomer Grigory Neujmin at the Simeiz Observatory on the Crimean peninsula. The asteroid was named for the Latin word of fatherland.
3674 Erbisbühl is an stony asteroid and one of the largest Mars-crossers from the innermost regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 11 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 13 September 1963, by German astronomer Cuno Hoffmeister at his Sonneberg Observatory on Mount Erbisbühl in Eastern Germany.
1546 Izsák, provisional designation 1941 SG1, is a background asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 27 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 28 September 1941, by Hungarian astronomer György Kulin at the Konkoly Observatory near Budapest, Hungary. The asteroid was named after Hungarian astronomer Imre Izsák.
1257 Móra, provisional designation 1932 PE, is an asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 15 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 8 August 1932, by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth at Heidelberg Observatory in southwest Germany. The asteroid was named after Hungarian astronomer Károly Móra.
1513 Mátra, provisional designation 1940 EB, is a stony Florian asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 5 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 10 March 1940, by Hungarian astronomer György Kulin at Konkoly Observatory in Budapest, Hungary. It was later named after the Mátra mountain range.
2058 Róka, provisional designation 1938 BH, is a Themistian asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 22 kilometers in diameter.