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9983 Rickfienberg (prov. designation: 1995 DA) is a carbonaceous asteroid from the middle region of the asteroid belt, approximately 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 19 February 1995, by American astronomer Dennis di Cicco at his private Sudbury Observatory (817), Massachusetts, United States.[8] It was named after American astronomer and editor Richard Fienberg.[2]

Orbit and classification

Orbit of Rickfienberg (blue), the inner planets and Jupiter (outermost)

Rickfienberg is a non-family asteroid of the main belt's background population when applying the hierarchical clustering method to its proper orbital elements. The dark C-type asteroid orbits the Sun in the central main-belt at a distance of 2.4–3.0 AU once every 4 years and 5 months (1,627 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.12 and an inclination of 8° with respect to the ecliptic.[1] The first observation was taken at the Australian Siding Spring Observatory in 1987, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 8 years prior to its discovery.[8]

Naming

This minor planet was named for Richard Tresch Fienberg (born 1956) an American astronomer at Rice and Harvard universities, and a stargazer at his private observatory near Danbury, New Hampshire. He is also an editor of the American amateur astronomer magazine Sky & Telescope, after which the minor planet 3243 Skytel is named.[2] The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 1 May 2003 (M.P.C. 48389).[9]

Physical characteristics

Lightcurve

During the asteroid's opposition in November 2011, a rotational lightcurve was obtained from photometric observations at Kitt Peak Observatory. It gave a well-defined rotation period of 5.2963 hours with a high brightness variation of 1.3 in magnitude (U=3), typically indicating a non-spheroidal shape.[7] This period was also confirmed by remodeled data from the Lowell photometric database in March 2016.[6]

Diameter and albedo

According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Rickfienberg measures 7.4 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.17,[3][4] while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for carbonaceous asteroids of 0.057 and calculates a diameter of 12.2 kilometers, as the lower the body's albedo (reflectivity), the larger its diameter, at a constant absolute magnitude (brightness).[5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 9983 Rickfienberg (1995 DA)" (2017-06-04 last obs.). Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
  2. ^ a b c Schmadel, Lutz D. (2006). "(9983) Rickfienberg [2.71, 0.11, 8.3]". Dictionary of Minor Planet Names – (9983) Rickfienberg, Addendum to Fifth Edition: 2003–2005. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. p. 49. doi:10.1007/978-3-540-34361-5_396. ISBN 978-3-540-34361-5.
  3. ^ a b c d Mainzer, A.; Grav, T.; Masiero, J.; Hand, E.; Bauer, J.; Tholen, D.; et al. (November 2011). "NEOWISE Studies of Spectrophotometrically Classified Asteroids: Preliminary Results". The Astrophysical Journal. 741 (2): 25. arXiv:1109.6407. Bibcode:2011ApJ...741...90M. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/741/2/90. S2CID 118700974. Retrieved 1 August 2016.
  4. ^ a b c Masiero, Joseph R.; Mainzer, A. K.; Grav, T.; Bauer, J. M.; Cutri, R. M.; Dailey, J.; et al. (November 2011). "Main Belt Asteroids with WISE/NEOWISE. I. Preliminary Albedos and Diameters". The Astrophysical Journal. 741 (2): 20. arXiv:1109.4096. Bibcode:2011ApJ...741...68M. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/741/2/68. S2CID 118745497. Retrieved 4 December 2016.
  5. ^ a b c d e "LCDB Data for (9983) Rickfienberg". Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB). Retrieved 1 August 2016.
  6. ^ a b Durech, J.; Hanus, J.; Oszkiewicz, D.; Vanco, R. (March 2016). "Asteroid models from the Lowell photometric database". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 587: 6. arXiv:1601.02909. Bibcode:2016A&A...587A..48D. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201527573. S2CID 118427201. Retrieved 1 August 2016.
  7. ^ a b Tatge, Coty B.; Odden, Caroline, E.; Arion, Douglas N.; Feinberg, Richard Tresch (July 2012). "Spectrophotometric Classification and Lightcurve Analysis of 9983 Rickfienberg" (PDF). Minor Planet Bulletin. 39 (3): 135–136. Bibcode:2012MPBu...39..135T. ISSN 1052-8091. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 March 2020. Retrieved 23 March 2020.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. ^ a b "9983 Rickfienberg (1995 DA)". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 1 August 2016.
  9. ^ "MPC/MPO/MPS Archive". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 1 August 2016.

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