![]() Orbital diagram of BAM | |
Discovery [1] | |
---|---|
Discovered by | L. Chernykh |
Discovery site | Crimean Astrophysical Obs. |
Discovery date | 8 October 1969 |
Designations | |
(2031) BAM | |
Named after | Baikal–Amur Mainline [2] (Siberian railway line) |
1969 TG2 ·1939 VB 1959 TW ·1972 NQ | |
main-belt ·(inner) Flora [3] [4] | |
Orbital characteristics [1] | |
Epoch 4 September 2017 (JD 2458000.5) | |
Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
Observation arc | 77.39 yr (28,268 days) |
Aphelion | 2.6203 AU |
Perihelion | 1.8477 AU |
2.2340 AU | |
Eccentricity | 0.1729 |
3.34 yr (1,220 days) | |
124.02° | |
0° 17m 42.72s / day | |
Inclination | 4.7524° |
169.28° | |
213.58° | |
Physical characteristics | |
Dimensions | 7.14 km (calculated) [3] 8.14±0.36 km [5] |
10.774±0.004 h [6] | |
0.170±0.017 [5] 0.24 (assumed) [3] | |
S [3] [7] | |
12.9 [1] [3] ·13.00 [5] ·13.05±0.81 [7] | |
2031 BAM, provisional designation 1969 TG2, is a stony Florian asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 8 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 8 October 1969, by Soviet astronomer Lyudmila Chernykh at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory in Nauchnyj, on the Crimean peninsula. [8] The asteroid was named for those who built the Baikal–Amur Mainline (BAM; БАМ), a Siberian railway line. [2]
BAM is a member of the Flora family ( 402 ), [3] [4] a giant asteroid family and the largest family of stony asteroids in the main belt. [9] : 23 It orbits the Sun in the inner asteroid belt at a distance of 1.8–2.6 AU once every 3 years and 4 months (1,220 days; semi-major axis of 2.23 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.17 and an inclination of 5° with respect to the ecliptic. [1]
The body's observation arc begins with its identification as 1939 VB at Uccle Observatory in November 1939, almost 30 years prior to its official discovery observation at Nauchnyj. [8]
BAM has been characterized as a stony S-type asteroid by Pan-STARRS photometric survey. [7]
In October 2016, a rotational lightcurve of BAM was obtained from photometric observations by amateur astronomer Matthieu Conjat. Lightcurve analysis gave a well-defined rotation period of 10.774 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.15 magnitude ( U=3 ). [6]
According to the survey carried out by the Japanese Akari satellite, BAM measures 8.14 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.170. [5] The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo of 0.24 – derived from 8 Flora, the parent body of the Flora family – and calculates a diameter of 7.14 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 12.9. [3]
This minor planet was named after those who constructed the Baikal–Amur Mainline (BAM; БАМ) through eastern Russia from 1974 to 1986. The rail line opened in 1989, and runs between Ust-Kut (near Lake Baikal and Komsomolsk-on-Amur. [2] [10] The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 1 September 1978 ( M.P.C. 4482). [11]