5900 Jensen, provisional designation , is a dark Lixiaohua
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 outer regions 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 19 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 3 October 1986, by Danish astronomer
Poul Jensen at the
Brorfelde Observatory in Denmark.
The asteroid was named for the discoverer and his wife Bodil Jensen.
Orbit and classification
''Jensen'' is a member of the
Lixiaohua family,
an outer-belt
asteroid family with more than 700 known members, consisting of
C-type and
X-type asteroids. The family's namesake is
3556 Lixiaohua.
It orbits the Sun in the
outer main-belt at a distance of 2.5–3.8
AU once every 5 years and 7 months (2,045 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 of 9
° 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 ...
.
The asteroid was first identified as at
Lowell Observatory in October 1930. The body's
observation arc begins also at Lowell Observatory, with a
precovery taken two days before its first identification, and 56 years prior to its official discovery observation at Brorfelde.
Physical characteristics
Diameter and albedo
According to the survey carried out by the
NEOWISE mission of NASA's
Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, ''Jensen'' measures 19.934 kilometers in diameter and its surface 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 0.030.
Rotation period
As of 2017, no 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 ''Jensen'' has been obtained from photometric observations. The asteroid's
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 ...
, poles and shape remains unknown.
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 in honor of the discoverer and his wife,
Paul and Bodil Jensen. The name was proposed by his colleagues
Karl Augustesen and
Hans Jørn Fogh Olsen. Jensen worked for 35 years in the Meridian Circle Department at the
Brorfelde Observatory, and also participated in the observatories minor-planet program using its Schmidt telescope.
The official naming citation was published by the
Minor Planet Center on 22 July, 1994 ().
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:Jensen
005900
Discoveries by Poul Jensen (astronomer)
Named minor planets
19861003