3703 Volkonskaya

3703 Volkonskaya, provisional designation 1978 PU3, is a Vestian asteroid and asynchronous binary system from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 9 August 1978, by Soviet astronomers Lyudmila Chernykh and Nikolai Chernykh at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory in Nauchnij, on the Crimean peninsula. It was named by the discoverers after the Russian princess Mariya Volkonskaya.[1] The V-type asteroid has a rotation period of 3.2 hours. The discovery of its 1.4-kilometer minor-planet moon was announced in December 2005.[5]

3703 Volkonskaya
Discovery [1]
Discovered byL. Chernykh
N. Chernykh
Discovery siteCrimean Astrophysical Obs.
Discovery date9 August 1978
Designations
(3703) Volkonskaya
Named after
Mariya Volkonskaya [1]
(Russian princess)
1978 PU3 · 1977 EK6
main-belt [1][2] · (inner)
Vesta [3] · Flora [4]
Orbital characteristics [2]
Epoch 23 March 2018 (JD 2458200.5)
Uncertainty parameter 0
Observation arc64.21 yr (23,451 d)
Aphelion2.6433 AU
Perihelion2.0202 AU
2.3317 AU
Eccentricity0.1336
3.56 yr (1,301 d)
44.835°
0° 16m 36.48s / day
Inclination6.7415°
172.94°
152.39°
Known satellites1 (D: 1.39 km P: 24 h)[4][5][6][7]
Physical characteristics
Mean diameter
3.46±0.1 km (derived)[5]
3.729±0.112 km[8][9]
4.11 km (calculated)[4]
3.235±0.001 h[6][7]
0.242±0.076[8][9]
0.24 (assumed)[4]
V [4]
14.1[2][4]
14.15±0.28[10]
14.3[9]

    Orbit and classification

    Volkonskaya is a member of the Vesta family (401),[3] when applying the hierarchical clustering method to its proper orbital elements. Vestian asteroids have a composition akin to cumulate eucrites (HED meteorites) and are thought to have originated deep within 4 Vesta's crust, possibly from the Rheasilvia crater, a large impact crater on its southern hemisphere near the South pole, formed as a result of a subcatastrophic collision. Vesta is the main belt's second-largest and second-most-massive body after Ceres.[11][12] Based on osculating Keplerian orbital elements, the asteroid has also been classified as a member of the Flora family (402), a giant asteroid family and the largest family of stony asteroids in the main-belt.[4]

    Volkonskaya orbits the Sun in the inner asteroid belt at a distance of 2.0–2.6 AU once every 3 years and 7 months (1,301 days; semi-major axis of 2.33 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.13 and an inclination of 7° with respect to the ecliptic.[2] The body's observation arc begins with a precovery taken at the Palomar Observatory in August 1953, or 25 years prior to its official discovery observation at Nauchnij.[1]

    Physical characteristics

    Volkonskaya is a V-type asteroid.[4]

    Rotation period

    In June 1996, a rotational lightcurve of Volkonskaya was obtained from photometric observations by American astronomer William Ryan. Lightcurve analysis gave a well-defined rotation period of 3.235 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.22 magnitude (U=3).[4][6][7]

    Diameter and albedo

    According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Volkonskaya measures 3.729 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.242,[8][9] while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.24 – derived from 8 Flora, the parent body of the Flora family – and calculates a diameter of 4.11 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 14.1.[4]

    Satellite

    The photometric observations by William Ryan and collaborators also showed that Volkonskaya is an asynchronous binary asteroid with a minor-planet moon orbiting it every 24 hours at an estimated average distance of 7.8 km. The discovery was announced in December 2005. The mutual occultation events suggest the presence of a satellite with an estimated diameter 1.39 km or 40% the size of its primary.[4][5][6][7]

    Naming

    This minor planet was numbered on 7 October 1987.[5] It was named after Russian princess Mariya Volkonskaya (1805–1865), wife of Sergey Volkonsky a Russian General Decembrist. She voluntarily followed her husband to exile in Siberia.[1] The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 25 September 1988 (M.P.C. 13609).[13]

    References
    1. "3703 Volkonskaya (1978 PU3)". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
    2. "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 3703 Volkonskaya (1978 PU3)" (2017-10-29 last obs.). Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
    3. "Asteroid 3703 Volkonskaya – Nesvorny HCM Asteroid Families V3.0". Small Bodies Data Ferret. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
    4. "LCDB Data for (3703) Volkonskaya". Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB). Retrieved 4 May 2018.
    5. Johnston, Wm. Robert (21 September 2014). "Asteroids with Satellites Database – (3703) Volkonskaya". Johnston's Archive. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
    6. Ryan, W. H.; Ryan, E. V.; Martinez, C. T. (November 2004). "Unusual Lightcurves in the Vesta Family of Asteroids". American Astronomical Society. 36: 1181. Bibcode:2004DPS....36.4609R.
    7. Ryan, William; Ryan, E. V. (October 2007). "Physical Characterization of the Vesta Family Asteroids". American Astronomical Society. 39: 439. Bibcode:2007DPS....39.1604R.
    8. 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.
    9. 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. (catalog)
    10. 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.
    11. Nesvorný, D.; Broz, M.; Carruba, V. (December 2014). Identification and Dynamical Properties of Asteroid Families. Asteroids IV. pp. 297–321. arXiv:1502.01628. Bibcode:2015aste.book..297N. doi:10.2458/azu_uapress_9780816532131-ch016. ISBN 9780816532131.
    12. Kelley, Michael S.; Vilas, Faith; Gaffey, Michael J.; Abell, Paul A. (September 2003). "Quantified mineralogical evidence for a common origin of 1929 Kollaa with 4 Vesta and the HED meteorites". Icarus. 165 (1): 215–218. Bibcode:2003Icar..165..215K. doi:10.1016/S0019-1035(03)00149-0.
    13. "MPC/MPO/MPS Archive". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 4 May 2018.

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