Misplaced Pages

1631 Kopff (provisional designation 1936 UC) is a stony Florian asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 9 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 11 October 1936, by Finnish astronomer Yrjö Väisälä at Turku Observatory in Southwest Finland. It was later named after German astronomer August Kopff.

Classification and orbit

Kopff is a member of the Flora family, one of the largest collisional families of stony S-type asteroid. It orbits the Sun in the inner main-belt at a distance of 1.8–2.7 AU once every 3 years and 4 months (1,220 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.21 and an inclination of 7° with respect to the ecliptic. First identified as 1926 TH at Heidelberg in 1926, the body's observation arc begins with its official discovery observation at Turku in 1936.

Physical characteristics

Rotation period

In November 2003, a rotational lightcurve of Kopff was obtained from remote photometric observations at the Tenagra and Tenagra II Observatories. Lightcurve analysis gave a well-defined rotation period of 6.683 hours with a brightness variation of 0.41 magnitude (U=3).

Diameter and albedo

According to the surveys carried out by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite IRAS, the Japanese Akari satellite, and NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Kopff measures between 8.64 and 9.66 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo between 0.2497 and 0.342. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link derives an albedo of 0.271 and a diameter of 9.71 kilometers, with an absolute magnitude of 12.1.

Naming

This minor planet was named for German astronomer August Kopff (1882–1960). He was first an assistant to Max Wolf, and became later a prolific discoverer of minor planets himself. In 1924, Kopff became Director of the Astronomisches Rechen-Institut in Berlin, and, after the western section moved to Heidelberg, he also became director of the Heidelberg Observatory. Under his leadership, the third Catalogue of Fundamental Stars (FK3) was compiled and the work on the fourth catalogue (FK4) was initiated. The lunar crater Kopff is also named in his honour. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 20 February 1976 (M.P.C. 3931).

Notes

1. Quoted from Dictionary of Minor Planet Names – (1631) Kopff: "Karl Reinmuth discovered the planet as 1926 TH on 5 October 1926. The planet could only have been observed on two nights which was not sufficient to derive a reliable orbit. The discovery is therefore credited to Yrjö Väisälä. Elliptical elements were derived by H. Walter (MPC 1897) from five positions of 1936 UC. The identity between both apparitions was found by André Patry (MPC 1451)."

References

1. ^ "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 1631 Kopff (1936 UC)" (2017-02-15 last obs.). Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Archived from the original on 18 September 2020. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
2. ^ Schmadel, Lutz D. (2007). "(1631) Kopff". Dictionary of Minor Planet Names – (1631) Kopff. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. p. 129. doi:10.1007/978-3-540-29925-7_1632. ISBN 978-3-540-00238-3.
3. ^ "LCDB Data for (1631) Kopff". Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB). Retrieved 27 December 2016.
4. ^ Masiero, Joseph R.; Mainzer, A. K.; Grav, T.; Bauer, J. M.; Cutri, R. M.; Nugent, C.; et al. (November 2012). "Preliminary Analysis of WISE/NEOWISE 3-Band Cryogenic and Post-cryogenic Observations of Main Belt Asteroids". The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 759 (1): 5. arXiv:1209.5794. Bibcode:2012ApJ...759L...8M. doi:10.1088/2041-8205/759/1/L8. S2CID 46350317.
5. ^ Usui, Fumihiko; Kuroda, Daisuke; Müller, Thomas G.; Hasegawa, Sunao; Ishiguro, Masateru; Ootsubo, Takafumi; et al. (October 2011). "Asteroid Catalog Using Akari: AKARI/IRC Mid-Infrared Asteroid Survey". Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan. 63 (5): 1117–1138. Bibcode:2011PASJ...63.1117U. doi:10.1093/pasj/63.5.1117. (online, AcuA catalog p. 153)
6. ^ Tedesco, E. F.; Noah, P. V.; Noah, M.; Price, S. D. (October 2004). "IRAS Minor Planet Survey V6.0". NASA Planetary Data System – IRAS-A-FPA-3-RDR-IMPS-V6.0: IRAS-A-FPA-3-RDR-IMPS-V6.0. Bibcode:2004PDSS...12.....T. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
7. ^ Sada, Pedro V.; Canizales, Eder D.; Armada, Edgar M. (September 2004). "CCD photometry of asteroids 970 Primula and 1631 Kopff using a remote commercial telescope". The Minor Planet Bulletin. 31 (3): 49–50. Bibcode:2004MPBu...31...49S. ISSN 1052-8091.
8. Veres, Peter; Jedicke, Robert; Fitzsimmons, Alan; Denneau, Larry; Granvik, Mikael; Bolin, Bryce; et al. (November 2015). "Absolute magnitudes and slope parameters for 250,000 asteroids observed by Pan-STARRS PS1 - Preliminary results". Icarus. 261: 34–47. arXiv:1506.00762. Bibcode:2015Icar..261...34V. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2015.08.007. S2CID 53493339.
9. ^ "1631 Kopff (1936 UC)". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 27 December 2016.
10. Schmadel, Lutz D. (2009). "Appendix – Publication Dates of the MPCs". Dictionary of Minor Planet Names – Addendum to Fifth Edition (2006–2008). Springer Berlin Heidelberg. p. 221. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-01965-4. ISBN 978-3-642-01964-7.

External links

• Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB), query form (info Archived 16 December 2017 at the Wayback Machine)
• Dictionary of Minor Planet Names, Google books
• Asteroids and comets rotation curves, CdR – Observatoire de Genève, Raoul Behrend
• Discovery Circumstances: Numbered Minor Planets (1)-(5000) – Minor Planet Center
• 1631 Kopff at AstDyS-2, Asteroids—Dynamic Site
  • Ephemeris · Observation prediction · Orbital info · Proper elements · Observational info
• 1631 Kopff at the JPL Small-Body Database
  • Close approach · Discovery · Ephemeris · Orbit viewer · Orbit parameters · Physical parameters

• Minor planet object articles (numbered)
• Flora asteroids
• Discoveries by Yrjö Väisälä
• Named minor planets
• Astronomical objects discovered in 1936