1994 Shane, provisional designation , is a dark Adeonian
asteroid
An asteroid is a minor planet—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the Solar System#Inner Solar System, inner Solar System or is co-orbital with Jupiter (Trojan asteroids). As ...
from the central region of the
asteroid belt
The asteroid belt is a torus-shaped region in the Solar System, centered on the Sun and roughly spanning the space between the orbits of the planets Jupiter and Mars. It contains a great many solid, irregularly shaped bodies called asteroids ...
, 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 near Brooklyn, Indiana, United States.
It was later named after American astronomer
C. Donald Shane.
Orbit and classification
''Shane'' is a member of the
Adeona family (), a large
family
Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...
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
Eccentricity or eccentric may refer to:
* Eccentricity (behavior), odd behavior on the part of a person, as opposed to being "normal"
Mathematics, science and technology Mathematics
* Off-Centre (geometry), center, in geometry
* Eccentricity (g ...
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 reference plane and the orbital plane or axis of direction of the orbiting object.
For a satellite orbiting the Eart ...
of 10
° with respect to the
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.
Fr ...
.
It was first identified as at
Simeiz Observatory
Simeiz Observatory (also spelled Simeis or Simeïs) was an astronomy research observatory until the mid-1950s. It is located on Mount Koshka, Crimea, by the town of Simeiz.
Part of the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory, it is currently used fo ...
in 1939, extending ''Shane''s
observation arc
In observational astronomy, the observation arc (or arc length) of a Solar System body is the time period between its earliest and latest observations, used for tracing the body's path. It is usually given in days or years. The term is mostly use ...
by 22 years prior to its official discovery observation at Goethe.
Lightcurve
In October 2009, a rotational
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 ...
of ''Shane'' was obtained from photometric observations at the Via Capote Observatory in California. It gave a well-defined
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 objec ...
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
The Infrared Astronomical Satellite (Dutch language, Dutch: ''Infrarood Astronomische Satelliet'') (IRAS) was the first space telescope to perform a astronomical survey, survey of the entire night sky at infrared wavelengths. Launched on 25 Janu ...
, ''Shane'' has an
albedo
Albedo ( ; ) is the fraction of sunlight that is Diffuse reflection, 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 ...
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 ''minor ...
was named after American astronomer
Charles Donald Shane (1895–1983), director of
Lick Observatory
The Lick Observatory is an astronomical observatory owned and operated by the University of California. It is on the summit of Mount Hamilton (California), Mount Hamilton, in the Diablo Range just east of San Jose, California, United States. The ...
, second president of
AURA, 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
The Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) is a United States astronomy, astronomical observatory located on Kitt Peak of the Quinlan Mountains in the Arizona-Sonoran Desert on the Tohono Oʼodham Nation, west-southwest of Tucson, Arizona. With ...
as well.
The 3-meter
C. Donald Shane telescope, 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.
Funct ...
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
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