1994 Shane, provisional designation , is a dark Adeonian

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 central region of the asteroid belt, approximately 25 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 4 October 1961, by astronomers of the Indiana Asteroid Program conducted at the

Goethe Link Observatory The Goethe Link Observatory, observatory code 760, is an astronomical observatory near Brooklyn, Indiana, United States. It is owned by Indiana University and operated by the Indiana Astronomical Society https://iasindy.org/about.html, which effo ...

near Brooklyn, Indiana, United States. It was later named after American astronomer

C. Donald Shane Charles Donald Shane (September 6, 1895 – March 19, 1983) was an American astronomer and director of the Lick Observatory of the University of California from 1945 to 1958, during which time he carried out his monumental program of counting exter ...

Orbit and classification

''Shane'' is a member of the

Adeona family The Adeona or Adeonian family () is a large asteroid family that formed from the parent body 145 Adeona. Its spectral type is that of a carbonaceous C-type, with currently 2,236 asteroids identified as family members. Based upon simulation ...

(), a large

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

of carbonaceous asteroids. The asteroid orbits the Sun in the intermediate main belt at a distance of 2.1–3.2 AU once every 4 years and 5 months (1,603 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.21 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 10 ° 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 ...

. It was first identified as at Simeiz Observatory in 1939, extending ''Shane''s observation arc by 22 years prior to its official discovery observation at Goethe.

Lightcurve

In October 2009, a rotational lightcurve of ''Shane'' was obtained from photometric observations at the Via Capote Observatory in California. It gave a well-defined

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 8.22 hours with a brightness variation of 0.26 magnitude (), superseding a previously obtained period of 8 hours from 1996 ().

Diameter and albedo

According to observations made by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite IRAS, ''Shane'' has an albedo of 0.06, while the survey carried out by the Japanese Akari satellite rendered a higher albedo of 0.13 with a corresponding diameter of 18 kilometers. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link derives an even lower albedo of 0.04, yet does not classify it as a carbonaceous but rather as a S-type asteroid, which typically have much higher albedos due to their stony surface composition.

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 American astronomer Charles Donald Shane (1895–1983), director of Lick Observatory, second president of

AURA Aura most commonly refers to: * Aura (paranormal), a field of luminous multicolored radiation around a person or object * Aura (symptom), a symptom experienced before a migraine or seizure Aura may also refer to: Places Extraterrestrial * 1488 ...

, and instrumental for the establishment of the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. Shane played a major role in the planning and construction of the first telescopes and buildings on Kitt Peak National Observatory as well. The 3-meter

C. Donald Shane telescope The C. Donald Shane telescope is a 120-inch (3.05-meter) reflecting telescope located at the Lick Observatory in San Jose, California. It was named after astronomer C. Donald Shane in 1978, who led the effort to acquire the necessary funds from t ...

, located at Lick Observatory, was also named after him. The approved naming citation was published 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 ...

on 1 March 1981 ().

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:Shane 001994 001994 Named minor planets 19611004