5475 Hanskennedy, provisional designation , is a Hungaria

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 innermost 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 2.3 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 26 August 1989, by Scottish-Australian astronomer Robert McNaught at the

Siding Spring Observatory Siding Spring Observatory near Coonabarabran, New South Wales, Australia, part of the Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics (RSAA) at the Australian National University (ANU), incorporates the Anglo-Australian Telescope along with a coll ...

in Canberra, Australia. It is named after Hans Kennedy, a Dutch-Australian astronomer known for his work with photographing

binary star A binary star or binary star system is a system of two stars that are gravitationally bound to and in orbit around each other. Binary stars in the night sky that are seen as a single object to the naked eye are often resolved as separate stars us ...

Biography: Hans Kennedy

This asteroid is named for Hans Kennedy, who was born in 1924 in Amsterdam in the Netherlands. After five years in India and New Zealand as an engineer, he left Christchurch in 1962 for Sydney. Initially working at the division of Astronomy and Physics at the CSIRO, he developed a multi-exposure technique to observe potential flare stars, using a scanning densitometer. He selected contact binaries as his primary area of research and recorded period changes of 24 contact binaries. He investigated the effect of using an incorrect ephemeris to determine times of minimum light and analysed the nature of abrupt period changes, concluding that they are non-existent. He indicated that periods of broken contact must be of limited duration due to the formation of a gas stream between the binary components and demonstrated that asymmetric minima are caused by dark magnetic spots. Despite criticism, he predicted the existence of large equal-mass binaries which were discovered in 2007. He developed a technique to observe the light from faint binaries during minimum light when they become invisible at visible wavelengths, using an integrator. Hans Kennedy was also instrumental in the discovery of the atmosphere of Pluto and was requested by NASA to photographically track several Apollo missions. He participated in photo-electric observations of the asteroid Kleopatra and found that it is an elongated metallic object consisting of an alloy of iron and nickel. Kennedy was a close associate of

Gerald Kron Gerald Kron (April 6, 1913 – April 9, 2012) was an American astronomer who was one of the pioneers of high-precision photometry with photoelectric instrumentation. He discovered the first starspot and made the first photometric observation of a ...

(US Naval Observatory)and

Bart Bok Bartholomeus Jan "Bart" Bok (April 28, 1906 – August 5, 1983) was a Dutch-American astronomer, teacher, and lecturer. He is best known for his work on the structure and evolution of the Milky Way galaxy, and for the discovery of Bok globules, w ...

(University of Arizona). He produced over 32 papers and publications. Although retired, he is analysing Schmidt plates and involved in research of binaries.

References

External links

Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB)
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)
Dictionary of Minor Planet Names
Google books

– Observatoire de Genève, Raoul Behrend

– Minor Planet Center * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hanskennedy 005475 Discoveries by Robert H. McNaught Named minor planets 19890826