2865 Laurel
2865 Laurel, provisional designation , is a stony Marian asteroid from the middle region of the asteroid belt, approximately 15 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by English-born South African astronomer Cyril Jackson at Johannesburg Observatory on 31 July 1935. The asteroid was named after movie comedian Stan Laurel. Orbit and classification ''Laurel'' orbits the Sun in the central main-belt at a distance of 2.4–2.7 AU once every 4 years and 1 month (1,497 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.07 and an inclination of 14 ° with respect to the ecliptic. No precoveries were taken and the asteroid's observation arc begins with its discovery observation in 1935. Physical characteristics ''Laurel'' has been characterized as a common S-type asteroid by PanSTARRS photometric survey. Rotation period A rotational lightcurve for this asteroid was obtained from photometric observations by French amateur astronomer Pierre Antonini in September 2005. It ga ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Cyril Jackson (astronomer)
Cyril V. Jackson (5 December 1903 – February 1988) was a South African astronomer, known for discovering 72 asteroids and a number of comets. He was born in Ossett, Yorkshire in England; his father emigrated to South Africa in 1911. He earned his B.Sc. at the University of the Witwatersrand. He worked at Union Observatory in Johannesburg from 1928 to 1947 (IAU code 078, previously known as Transvaal Observatory and later known as Republic Observatory). He served with South African forces in the Second World War, and was mentioned in despatches. After the war he was director of the ''Yale-Columbia Southern Observatory'' (YCSO) station in Johannesburg (IAU code 077), which had been established by Yale University in the 1920s. Columbia University subsequently collaborated in that venture and the operation became known as the Yale-Columbia Southern Observatory (YCSO, Inc. was formally created in 1962). Due to light pollution that observatory had to be shut down in 1951 and ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ecliptic
The ecliptic or ecliptic plane is the orbital plane of Earth's orbit, Earth around the Sun. It was a central concept in a number of ancient sciences, providing the framework for key measurements in astronomy, astrology and calendar-making. 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 against the fixed stars, background of stars – specifically the Zodiac constellations. The planets of the Solar System can also be seen along the ecliptic, because their orbital planes are very close to Earth's. The Moon's orbital plane is also similar to Earth's; the ecliptic is so named because the ancients noted that eclipses only occur when the Moon is crossing it. The ecliptic is an important Plane of reference, reference plane and is the basis of the ecliptic coordinate system. Ancient scientists were able to calculate Earth's axial tilt by comparing the ecliptic plane to that of ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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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 ''minor planet'', but that year's meeting IAU definition of planet, reclassified minor planets and comets into dwarf planets and Small Solar System body, small Solar System bodies (SSSBs).Press release, IAU 2006 General Assembly: Result of the IAU Resolution votes International Astronomical Union, August 24, 2006. Accessed May 5, 2008. In contrast to the eight official planets of the Solar System, all minor planets fail to clearing the neighborhood, clear their orbital neighborhood. Minor planets include asteroids (near- ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Astronomical Albedo
Albedo ( ; ) is the fraction of sunlight that is diffusely reflected by a body. It is measured on a scale from 0 (corresponding to a black body that absorbs all incident radiation) to 1 (corresponding to a body that reflects all incident radiation). ''Surface albedo'' is defined as the ratio of radiosity ''J''e to the irradiance ''E''e (flux per unit area) received by a surface. The proportion reflected is not only determined by properties of the surface itself, but also by the spectral and angular distribution of solar radiation reaching the Earth's surface. These factors vary with atmospheric composition, geographic location, and time (see position of the Sun). While directional-hemispherical reflectance factor is calculated for a single angle of incidence (i.e., for a given position of the Sun), albedo is the directional integration of reflectance over all solar angles in a given period. The temporal resolution may range from seconds (as obtained from flux measurements) to ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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NEOWISE
Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE, observatory code C51, Explorer 92 and MIDEX-6) was a NASA infrared astronomy space telescope in the Explorers Program launched in December 2009.. . WISE discovered thousands of minor planets and numerous star clusters. Its observations also supported the discovery of the first Y-type brown dwarf and Earth trojan asteroid. ... . WISE performed an all-sky astronomical survey with images in 3.4, 4.6, 12 and 22 μm wavelength range bands, over ten months using a diameter infrared telescope in Earth orbit. After its solid hydrogen coolant depleted, it was placed in hibernation mode in February 2011. In 2013, NASA reactivated the WISE telescope to search for near-Earth objects (NEO), such as comets and asteroids, that could collide with Earth. The reactivation mission was called Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE). As of August 2023, NEOWISE was 40% through the 20th coverage of the full sky. Science o ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer
Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE, List of observatory codes, observatory code C51, Explorer 92 and MIDEX-6) was a NASA infrared astronomy Space observatory, space telescope in the Explorers Program launched in December 2009.. . WISE List of minor planet discoverers#WISE, discovered thousands of minor planets and numerous star clusters. Its observations also supported the discovery of the first Y dwarf, Y-type brown dwarf and Earth trojan, Earth trojan asteroid. ... . WISE performed an all-sky astronomical survey with images in 3.4, 4.6, 12 and 22 μm wavelength range bands, over ten months using a diameter infrared telescope in Geocentric orbit, Earth orbit. After its solid hydrogen coolant depleted, it was placed in Hibernation (spaceflight), hibernation mode in February 2011. In 2013, NASA reactivated the WISE telescope to search for near-Earth objects (NEO), such as comets and asteroids, that could collide with Earth. The reactivation mission was called Near-Eart ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Akari (satellite)
AKARI (ASTRO-F) was an infrared astronomy satellite developed by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, in cooperation with institutes of Europe and Korea. It was launched on 21 February 2006, at 21:28 UTC (06:28, 22 February JST) by M-V rocket into Earth Sun-synchronous orbit. After its launch it was named ''AKARI'' (明かり), which means ''light'' in Japanese. Earlier on, the project was known as IRIS (InfraRed Imaging Surveyor). Its primary mission was to survey the entire sky in near-, mid- and far-infrared, through its aperture telescope. Technical design Its designed lifespan, of far- and mid-infrared sensors, was 550 days, limited by its liquid helium coolant. Its telescope mirror was made of silicon carbide to save weight. The budget for the satellite was ¥13,4 billion (~). History By mid-August 2006, AKARI finished around 50 per cent of the all sky survey. By early November 2006, first (phase-1) all-sky survey finished. Second (phase-2) all-sky survey starte ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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LCDB Quality Code
In astronomy, a light curve is a graph of the light intensity of a celestial object or region as a function of time, typically with the magnitude of light received on the ''y''-axis and with time on the ''x''-axis. The light is usually in a particular frequency interval or band. Light curves can be periodic, as in the case of eclipsing binaries, Cepheid variables, other periodic variables, and transiting extrasolar planets; or aperiodic, like the light curve of a nova, cataclysmic variable star, supernova, microlensing event, or binary as observed during occultation events. The study of a light curve and other observations can yield considerable information about the physical process that produces such a light curve, or constrain the physical theories about it. Variable stars Graphs of the apparent magnitude of a variable star over time are commonly used to visualise and analyse their behaviour. Although the categorisation of variable star types is increasingly ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Magnitude (astronomy)
In astronomy, magnitude is a measure of the brightness of an astronomical object, object, usually in a defined passband. An imprecise but systematic determination of the magnitude of objects was introduced in ancient times by Hipparchus. Magnitude values do not have a unit. The scale is Logarithmic scale, logarithmic and defined such that a magnitude 1 star is exactly 100 times brighter than a magnitude 6 star. Thus each step of one magnitude is \sqrt[5] \approx 2.512 times brighter than the magnitude 1 higher. The brighter an object appears, the lower the value of its magnitude, with the brightest objects reaching negative values. Astronomers use two different definitions of magnitude: apparent magnitude and absolute magnitude. The ''apparent'' magnitude () is the brightness of an object and depends on an object's intrinsic luminosity, its Cosmic distance ladder, distance, and the Extinction (astronomy), extinction reducing its brightness. The ''absolute'' magnitude () describes ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Rotation Period
In astronomy, the rotation period or spin period of a celestial object (e.g., star, planet, moon, asteroid) has two definitions. The first one corresponds to the '' sidereal rotation period'' (or ''sidereal day''), i.e., the time that the object takes to complete a full rotation around its axis relative to the background stars ( inertial space). The other type of commonly used "rotation period" is the object's '' synodic rotation period'' (or ''solar day''), which may differ, by a fraction of a rotation or more than one rotation, to accommodate the portion of the object's orbital period around a star or another body during one day. Measuring rotation For solid objects, such as rocky planets and asteroids, the rotation period is a single value. For gaseous or fluid bodies, such as stars and giant planets, the period of rotation varies from the object's equator to its pole due to a phenomenon called differential rotation. Typically, the stated rotation period for a giant pl ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Pierre Antonini
Pierre Antonini is a retired French mathematics professor and amateur astronomer who has discovered several minor planets and two supernovae at his private Observatoire de Bédoin (Bedoin Observatory; observatory code: 132) located at Bédoin, southeastern France. For many of his discoveries he used a 16-cm telescope or a 30-cm telescope. He is a prolific discoverer of asteroids. The Minor Planet Center (MPC) credits him with the discovery of 35 numbered minor planets between 1997 and 1999. As of March 2016, the MPC ranks him 204th in the all-time, top-astronomer chart by number of discovered bodies. Antonini is also credited with the discovery of the supernovae and . In January 2004, he co-discovered S/2003 (1089) 1, a minor planet moon orbiting the main-belt asteroid 1089 Tama. The 7-kilometer sized main-belt asteroid 12580 Antonini, discovered by Laurent Bernasconi in 1999, was named in his honour. List of discovered minor planets See also * International ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lightcurve
In astronomy, a light curve is a graph (discrete mathematics), graph of the Radiance, light intensity of a celestial object or region as a function of time, typically with the magnitude (astronomy), magnitude of light received on the ''y''-axis and with time on the ''x''-axis. The light is usually in a particular frequency interval or frequency band, band. Light curves can be periodic, as in the case of eclipsing binary, eclipsing binaries, Cepheid variables, other periodic variables, and Methods of detecting extrasolar planets#Transit photometry, transiting extrasolar planets; or aperiodic, like the light curve of a nova, cataclysmic variable star, supernova, gravitational microlensing, microlensing event, or binary as observed during occultation events. The study of a light curve and other observations can yield considerable information about the physical process that produces such a light curve, or constrain the physical theories about it. Variable stars Graphs of the ap ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |