Discovery [1] | |
---|---|
Discovered by | N. Chernykh |
Discovery site | Crimean Astrophysical Obs. |
Discovery date | 16 October 1979 |
Designations | |
11264 Claudiomaccone | |
Named after |
Claudio Maccone (Italian astronomer) [2] |
1979 UC4 · 1989 EC10 1991 PD14 | |
main-belt · ((
central)) background | |
Orbital characteristics [1] | |
Epoch 4 September 2017 ( JD 2458000.5) | |
Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
Observation arc | 66.27 yr (24,204 days) |
Aphelion | 3.1793 AU |
Perihelion | 1.9775 AU |
2.5784 AU | |
Eccentricity | 0.2331 |
4.14 yr (1,512 days) | |
21.409 ° | |
0° 14m 17.16s / day | |
Inclination | 3.5229° |
11.129° | |
57.936° | |
Known satellites | 1 [3] [4] [5] |
Physical characteristics | |
Dimensions | 3.203±0.295 km
[6]
[7] 4.30 km (calculated) [3] |
3.18701±0.00005
h
[8] 3.1872±0.0006 h [5] 3.1872 h [9] 3.1873±0.0001 h [8] | |
0.20 (assumed)
[3] 0.432±0.094 [6] [7] | |
V–R = 0.520±0.035
[4]
[5] S [3] · S/ Q [5] | |
14.0 [6] · 14.2 [1] [3] · 14.3 [5] · 14.44±0.25 [10] | |
11264 Claudiomaccone ( provisional designation 1979 UC4) is a stony background asteroid and binary system from the middle regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 3 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered 16 October 1979, by Nikolai Chernykh at Crimean Astrophysical Observatory in Nauchnyj, on the Crimean peninsula. [11] It was named after the Italian astronomer Claudio Maccone. [2]
Claudiomaccone orbits the Sun in the ( central) main-belt at a distance of 2.0–3.2 AU once every 4 years and 2 months (1,512 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.23 and an inclination of 4 ° with respect to the ecliptic. [1] Claudiomaccone comes closer to Mars than to the other planets, repeatedly approaching the Red Planet as close as 0.47 AU (70,300,000 km). In 2096 it makes a very rare approach to 65 Gm.[ citation needed]
A first precovery was taken at Palomar Observatory in 1950, extending the body's observation arc by 29 years prior to its official discovery observation. [11]
According to the survey carried out by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Claudiomaccone measures 3.203 kilometers in diameter and its surface has a high albedo of 0.432, [6] [7] while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for stony S-type asteroids of 0.20 and calculates a diameter of 4.30 kilometers with an absolute magnitude of 14.2. [3]
In November 2004, a rotational lightcurve of Claudiomaccone was obtained from photometric observations by Ukrainian astronomer Yurij N. Krugly, using the 0.7-meter telescope at Chuguev Observation Station ( 121) and the 1-meter telescope at Simeiz Observatory. Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period of 3.1872 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.15 magnitude ( U=n.a.). [5] An identical period with an amplitude of 0.12 magnitude, was also published by Petr Pravec in 2006. [9]
After the binary nature of Claudiomaccone was announced (see below), follow-up observations by a group of French, Swiss and Italian astronomers (including Claudio Maccone) in 2008 and 2012, gave a period 3.1873 and 3.18701 hours with an amplitude of 0.16 and 0.12 magnitude, respectively ( U=2/2+). [8]
The obtained photometric observations from 2004, also revealed that Claudiomaccone is an asynchronous binary system with a minor-planet moon orbiting it every 15.11 hours. [5] An identical orbital period is also given by Pravec. [9] The discovery was announced in December 2005, and the moon was provisionally designated S/2003 (11264) 1. [4]
Based on a secondary to primary mean-diameter ratio of larger than 0.31, the moon's diameter is estimated to be at least 1.24 kilometers. Its orbit around Claudiomaccone has an estimated semi-major axis of 6 kilometers. [4] [5]
This minor planet was named after Claudio Maccone (born 1948), an Italian SETI astronomer and space scientist at Thales Alenia Space in Turin, Italy. In his book The Sun as a Gravitational Lens: Proposed Space Missions he proposed the construction and launch of a spacecraft–antenna, called the FOCAL space mission. Outside the Solar System, at a distance of 550 AU, FOCAL could have a significantly better sensitivity detecting radio signals due to the Sun's magnifying gravitational lensing effect, as predicted by general relativity. [2] The official naming citation was published on 2 September 2001 ( M.P.C. 43382; 54279 and *35557). [12] In 2012, he succeed American astronomer Seth Shostak as chairman of the SETI Permanent Committee at the International Academy of Astronautics.