22577 Alfiuccio

22577 Alfiuccio
Discovery[1]
Discovered by LONEOS
Discovery site Anderson Mesa Stn.
Discovery date 30 April 1998
Designations
MPC designation 22577 Alfiuccio
Named after
Alfio "Alfiuccio" Grasso (Italian boy)[2]
1998 HT51 · 1999 UZ8
main-belt · Flora[3]
Orbital characteristics[1]
Epoch 16 February 2017 (JD 2457800.5)
Uncertainty parameter 0
Observation arc 19.88 yr (7,261 days)
Aphelion 2.6307 AU
Perihelion 1.9503 AU
2.2905 AU
Eccentricity 0.1485
3.47 yr (1,266 days)
66.989°
 17m 3.48s / day
Inclination 3.8669°
65.751°
251.08°
Physical characteristics
Dimensions 2.40 km (calculated)[3]
4.3704±0.0024 h[4]
0.24 (assumed)[3]
S[3]
14.8[1] · 14.816±0.010 (R)[4] · 15.27[3]

    22577 Alfiuccio, provisional designation 1998 HT51, is a stony Flora asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 2.4 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 30 April 1998, by the Lowell Observatory Near-Earth-Object Search (LONEOS) at the U.S. Anderson Mesa Station in Flagstaff, Arizona.[5]

    The S-type asteroid is a member of the Flora family, one of the largest groups of stony asteroids in the main-belt. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.0–2.6 AU once every 3 years and 6 months (1,266 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.15 and an inclination of 4° with respect to the ecliptic.[1] The first observation of Alfiuccio is a precovery that was taken at the Chinese Xinglong Station in 1996. It extended the asteroid's observation arc by 2 years prior to its official discovery observation.[5]

    A rotational light-curve for Alfiuccio was obtained from photometric observations made at the Palomar Transient Factory, California, in December 2010. It gave a rotation period of 4.3704±0.0024 hours with a brightness variation of 0.36 in magnitude, respectively (U=2).[4] The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.24 – derived from 8 Flora, the largest member and namesake of its orbital family – and calculates a diameter of 2.4 kilometers, based on a weaker absolute magnitude of 15.27.[3]

    The minor planet was named in memory of Alfio "Alfiuccio" Grasso (1992–2004) who died in a hunting accident on the slopes of Mount Etna, Italy. The body's name was proposed by C. Blanco and M. Di Martino.[2] Naming citation was published on 6 August 2009 (M.P.C. 66725).[6]

    References

    1. 1 2 3 4 "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 22577 Alfiuccio (1998 HT51)" (2016-11-05 last obs.). Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
    2. 1 2 Schmadel, Lutz D. (2003). Dictionary of Minor Planet Names – (22577) Alfiuccio. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. p. 1045. ISBN 978-3-540-29925-7. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
    3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "LCDB Data for (22577) Alfiuccio". Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB). Retrieved 11 May 2016.
    4. 1 2 3 Waszczak, Adam; Chang, Chan-Kao; Ofek, Eran O.; Laher, Russ; Masci, Frank; Levitan, David; et al. (September 2015). "Asteroid Light Curves from the Palomar Transient Factory Survey: Rotation Periods and Phase Functions from Sparse Photometry". The Astronomical Journal. 150 (3): 35. arXiv:1504.04041Freely accessible. Bibcode:2015AJ....150...75W. doi:10.1088/0004-6256/150/3/75. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
    5. 1 2 "22577 Alfiuccio (1998 HT51)". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
    6. "MPC/MPO/MPS Archive". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 11 May 2016.

    External links

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