5256 Farquhar

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5256 Farquhar
Discovery 
Synodic rotation period
11.513±0.001 h[6]
0.1275±0.0198[5]
0.148±0.020[4]
0.21 (assumed)[3]
S [3]
11.8[1] · 11.9[3] · 12.3[5] · 12.41±0.63[7]

5256 Farquhar, provisional designation 1988 NN, is a stony Eunomian

Robert Coker at the Palomar Observatory in California.[8] The asteroid was later named for American NASA specialist Robert W. Farquhar.[2]

Orbit and classification

Farquhar is a member of the Eunomia family, the most prominent family in the intermediate main-belt, which mostly consists of stony S-type asteroids. It orbits the Sun in the central main-belt at a distance of 2.0–3.1 AU once every 4 years and 1 month (1,490 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.20 and an inclination of 15° with respect to the ecliptic.[1] The first observation was made at the U.S. Goethe Link Observatory in 1955, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 33 years prior to its discovery.[8]

Physical characteristics

Rotation period

In November 2013, a rotational

spheroidal
shape.

Diameter and albedo

According to the surveys carried out by NASA's

albedo of 0.148 and 0.128, respectively.[4][5] The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.21, derived from the family's largest member and namesake, 15 Eunomia, and calculates a diameter of 12.1 kilometers with an absolute magnitude of 11.9.[3]

Naming

This minor planet was named for American NASA mission design specialist Robert W. Farquhar (1932–2015). At the Goddard Space Flight Center, he designed low-cost spacecraft and missions to explore the Solar System.[2]

Farquhar was known for his international collaborations and for designing missions to comets and minor planets using inventive alternative trajectories.

M.P.C. 21134).[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 5256 Farquhar (1988 NN)" (2016-08-03 last obs.). Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 21 June 2017.
  2. ^
    ISBN 978-3-540-00238-3
    .
  3. ^ a b c d e f "LCDB Data for (5256) Farquhar". Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB). Retrieved 9 September 2016.
  4. ^
    doi:10.1088/0004-637X/791/2/121
    . Retrieved 9 September 2016.
  5. ^
    doi:10.1088/0004-637X/741/2/90
    .
  6. ^
    ISSN 1052-8091
    . Retrieved 9 September 2016.
  7. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2015.08.007
    . Retrieved 9 September 2016.
  8. ^ a b "5256 Farquhar (1988 NN)". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 9 September 2016.
  9. ^ "MPC/MPO/MPS Archive". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 9 September 2016.

External links

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