2554 Skiff

2554 Skiff
Discovery[1]
Discovered byE. Bowell
Discovery siteAnderson Mesa Stn.
Discovery date17 July 1980
Designations
(2554) Skiff
Named after
Brian Skiff[1]
(American astronomer)
1980 OB · 1931 AB
1970 RE · 1976 GK8
1976 HV
main-belt[1][2] · (inner)
Flora[3][4] · Levin[5][6]
Orbital characteristics[2]
Epoch 23 March 2018 (JD 2458200.5)
Uncertainty parameter 0
Observation arc64.13 yr (23,423 d)
Aphelion2.5915 AU
Perihelion1.9355 AU
2.2635 AU
Eccentricity0.1449
3.41 yr (1,244 d)
57.298°
0° 17m 21.84s / day
Inclination4.8597°
296.38°
333.74°
Physical characteristics
6.005±0.052 km[7]
6.23±1.03 km[8]
6.283±0.049 km[9]
7.82 km (calculated)[4]
8.56±0.57 km[10]
25.6±0.5 h[11]
0.153±0.022[10]
0.24 (assumed)[4]
0.334±0.139[8]
0.4489±0.0796[9]
S (assumed)[4]
12.5[9]
12.51±0.31[12]
12.70[2][4][8]
13.00[10]

2554 Skiff, provisional designation 1980 OB, is a Florian asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 17 July 1980, by American astronomer Edward Bowell at Lowell's Anderson Mesa Station near Flagstaff, Arizona.[1] The presumed S-type asteroid has a rotation period of 25.6 hours and was named after astronomer Brian Skiff.[1]

Orbit and classification

Skiff 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.[13]: 23  Based on an alternative HCM-classification, the Asteroid Dynamic Site groups this asteroid to the core members of the Levin family, a proposed Florian subfamily of 1145 bodies which is named after its parent body 2076 Levin.[5][6]: 22 

It orbits the Sun in the inner main-belt at a distance of 1.9–2.6 AU once every 3 years and 5 months (1,244 days; semi-major axis of 2.26 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.14 and an inclination of 5° with respect to the ecliptic.[2] The asteroid was first observed as 1931 AB at Heidelberg Observatory in January 1931. The body's observation arc begins with a precovery taken at Palomar Observatory in June 1953, more than 27 years prior to its official discovery observation at Anderson Mesa.[1]

Physical characteristics

Skiff is an assumed stony S-type asteroid,[4] which is also the overall spectral type of the Flora family.[13]

Rotation period

In August 2014, a rotational lightcurve of Skiff was obtained from photometric observations by Italian astronomers at the Franco Fuligni Observatory near Rome. It gave a provisional rotation period of 25.6 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.32 in magnitude (U=1).[11]

Diameter and albedo

According to the surveys carried out by the Japanese Akari satellite and the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Skiff measures between 6.005 and 8.56 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo between 0.153 and 0.4489.[7][8][9][10]

The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.24 – derived from 8 Flora, the Flora family's parent body – and calculates a diameter of 7.82 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 12.7.[4]

Naming

Skiff was named in honor of American astronomer Brian A. Skiff, a discoverer of 60 minor planets. He significantly contributed to Lowell's asteroid astrometry program, including the rediscovery of the 800-meter potentially hazardous object 69230 Hermes, a long-lost asteroid.[1] The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 8 April 1982 (M.P.C. 6834).[14]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g "2554 Skiff (1980 OB)". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
  2. ^ a b c d "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 2554 Skiff (1980 OB)" (2017-11-02 last obs.). Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
  3. ^ a b "Asteroid 2554 Skiff – Nesvorny HCM Asteroid Families V3.0". Small Bodies Data Ferret. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h "LCDB Data for (2554) Skiff". Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB). Retrieved 14 April 2018.
  5. ^ a b "(2554) Skiff". AstDys – Asteroids Dynamic Site. University of Pisa. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
  6. ^ a b Milani, Andrea; Cellino, Alberto; Knezevic, Zoran; Novakovic, Bojan; Spoto, Federica; Paolicchi, Paolo (September 2014). "Asteroid families classification: Exploiting very large datasets". Icarus. 239: 46–73. arXiv:1312.7702. Bibcode:2014Icar..239...46M. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2014.05.039.
  7. ^ a b Masiero, Joseph R.; Grav, T.; Mainzer, A. K.; Nugent, C. R.; Bauer, J. M.; Stevenson, R.; et al. (August 2014). "Main-belt Asteroids with WISE/NEOWISE: Near-infrared Albedos". The Astrophysical Journal. 791 (2): 11. arXiv:1406.6645. Bibcode:2014ApJ...791..121M. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/791/2/121.
  8. ^ a b c d Nugent, C. R.; Mainzer, A.; Masiero, J.; Bauer, J.; Cutri, R. M.; Grav, T.; et al. (December 2015). "NEOWISE Reactivation Mission Year One: Preliminary Asteroid Diameters and Albedos". The Astrophysical Journal. 814 (2): 13. arXiv:1509.02522. Bibcode:2015ApJ...814..117N. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/814/2/117.
  9. ^ a b c d Mainzer, A.; Grav, T.; Masiero, J.; Hand, E.; Bauer, J.; Tholen, D.; et al. (November 2011). "NEOWISE Studies of Spectrophotometrically Classified Asteroids: Preliminary Results". The Astrophysical Journal. 741 (2): 25. arXiv:1109.6407. Bibcode:2011ApJ...741...90M. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/741/2/90.
  10. ^ a b c d Usui, Fumihiko; Kuroda, Daisuke; Müller, Thomas G.; Hasegawa, Sunao; Ishiguro, Masateru; Ootsubo, Takafumi; et al. (October 2011). "Asteroid Catalog Using Akari: AKARI/IRC Mid-Infrared Asteroid Survey". Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan. 63 (5): 1117–1138. Bibcode:2011PASJ...63.1117U. doi:10.1093/pasj/63.5.1117. (online, AcuA catalog p. 153)
  11. ^ a b Tomassini, Angelo; Scardella, Maurizio; Zampetti, Fabio (April 2015). "Rotation Period Determination of 2554 Skiff and 3107 Weaver". The Minor Planet Bulletin. 42 (2): 100–101. Bibcode:2015MPBu...42..100T. ISSN 1052-8091.
  12. ^ Veres, Peter; Jedicke, Robert; Fitzsimmons, Alan; Denneau, Larry; Granvik, Mikael; Bolin, Bryce; et al. (November 2015). "Absolute magnitudes and slope parameters for 250,000 asteroids observed by Pan-STARRS PS1 - Preliminary results". Icarus. 261: 34–47. arXiv:1506.00762. Bibcode:2015Icar..261...34V. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2015.08.007.
  13. ^ a b Nesvorný, D.; Broz, M.; Carruba, V. (December 2014). "Identification and Dynamical Properties of Asteroid Families". Asteroids IV. pp. 297–321. arXiv:1502.01628. Bibcode:2015aste.book..297N. doi:10.2458/azu_uapress_9780816532131-ch016. ISBN 9780816532131.
  14. ^ "MPC/MPO/MPS Archive". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 14 April 2018.