1033 Simona, provisional designation , is a stony Eoan

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet of the Solar System#Inner solar system, inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter; they are rocky, metallic o ...

from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 20 kilometers in diameter. The asteroid was discovered by

George Van Biesbroeck George A. Van Biesbroeck (or Georges-Achille Van Biesbroeck, , January 21, 1880 – February 23, 1974) was a Belgian–American astronomer. He worked at observatories in Belgium, Germany and the United States. He specialized in the observation ...

in 1924, who named it after his daughter Simona.

Discovery

''Simona'' was discovered on 4 September 1924, by Belgian–American astronomer

at Yerkes Observatory in Wisconsin, United States. On the following night, it was independently discovered by Soviet astronomer Sergey Belyavsky at Simeiz Observatory on the Crimean peninsula. As an anomaly, the asteroid's

astrometric Astrometry is a branch of astronomy that involves precise measurements of the positions and movements of stars and other celestial bodies. It provides the kinematics and physical origin of the Solar System and this galaxy, the Milky Way. Histor ...

discovery record from 1924, , is missing in the observational history table provided by the

Minor Planet Center The Minor Planet Center (MPC) is the official body for observing and reporting on minor planets under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Founded in 1947, it operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Function ...

. The first given observation is from 30 August 1938, made at Heidelberg Observatory.

Orbit and classifications

''Simona'' is a member of the

Eos family The Eos family (''adj. Eoan'' ; ) is a very large asteroid family located in the outer region of the asteroid belt. The family of K-type asteroids is believed to have formed as a result of an ancient catastrophic collision. The family's parent body ...

, a collisional outer-belt family of untypical stony asteroids. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.6–3.4 AU once every 5 years and 2 months (1,898 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.12 and an

inclination Orbital inclination measures the tilt of an object's orbit around a celestial body. It is expressed as the angle between a Plane of reference, reference plane and the orbital plane or Axis of rotation, axis of direction of the orbiting object ...

of 11 ° with respect to the

ecliptic The ecliptic or ecliptic plane is the orbital plane of the Earth around the Sun. From the perspective of an observer on Earth, the Sun's movement around the celestial sphere over the course of a year traces out a path along the ecliptic agai ...

. The body's observation arc begins almost 13 years after its official discovery observation, with its identification at

Uccle Observatory The Royal Observatory of Belgium (french: link=no, Observatoire Royal de Belgique, nl, Koninklijke Sterrenwacht van België), has been situated in the Uccle municipality of Brussels (Belgium) since 1890. It was first established in Saint-Josse ...

in February 1937.

Physical characteristics

Lightcurves

In September 2007, photometric observations at the Oakley Observatory in Indiana, United States, gave a fragmentary lightcurve with a

rotation period The rotation period of a celestial object (e.g., star, gas giant, planet, moon, asteroid) may refer to its sidereal rotation period, i.e. the time that the object takes to complete a single revolution around its axis of rotation relative to the ...

of 10.07 hours and a brightness variation of 0.15 magnitude (). Another fragmentary lightcurve of ''Simona'' was obtained by French amateur astronomer

René Roy René Roy may refer to: * René Roy (economist) * René Roy (chemist) * René Roy (astronomer) This is a list of minor-planet discoverers credited by the Minor Planet Center with the discovery of one or several minor planets (such as near-Earth ...

in August 2012. Lightcurve analysis gave a period of 9.6 hours with an amplitude of 0.02 magnitude ().

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 Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE, observatory code C51, Explorer 92 and SMEX-6) is a NASA infrared astronomy space telescope in the Explorers Program. It was launched in December 2009, and placed in hibernation mode in February 2 ...

, ''Simona'' measures between 19.195 and 23.72 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo between 0.12 and 0.196. The ''Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link'' derives an albedo of 0.1050 and a diameter of 24.71 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 11.1.

Naming

This

minor planet According to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a minor planet is an astronomical object in direct orbit around the Sun that is exclusively classified as neither a planet nor a comet. Before 2006, the IAU officially used the term '' ...

was named after the discoverer's daughter Simona Titus (née Van Biesbroeck). The official naming citation was published by Paul Herget in '' The Names of the Minor Planets'' ().

References

External links

Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB)
query form

)
Dictionary of Minor Planet Names
Google books

– Observatoire de Genève, Raoul Behrend

– Minor Planet Center * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Simona 001033 Discoveries by George Van Biesbroeck Named minor planets 19240904