6235 Burney, provisional designation 1987 VB, is a Florian or background asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 14 November 1987, by Japanese astronomers Seiji Ueda and Hiroshi Kaneda at the Kushiro Observatory on Hokkaido, Japan.[1] The likely elongated L-type asteroid has a rotation period of 15.5 hours.[3] It was named for Venetia Burney, who first proposed Pluto's name.[1]

6235 Burney
Discovery [1]
Discovered byS. Ueda
H. Kaneda
Discovery siteKushiro Obs.
Discovery date14 November 1987
Designations
(6235) Burney
Named after
Venetia Burney[1]
(Proposed Pluto's name)
1987 VB · 1950 TX2
1984 YM5 · 1984 YO6
main-belt[1][2] · (inner)
background[a] · Flora[3][4]
Orbital characteristics[2]
Epoch 23 March 2018 (JD 2458200.5)
Uncertainty parameter 0
Observation arc67.29 yr (24,578 d)
Aphelion2.5616 AU
Perihelion1.9231 AU
2.2423 AU
Eccentricity0.1424
3.36 yr (1,226 d)
0.6662°
0° 17m 36.6s / day
Inclination2.9152°
283.50°
129.57°
Physical characteristics
3.64±0.68 km[5]
4.05±0.73 km[6]
4.083±0.156 km[7][8]
4.50 km (calculated)[3]
15.515±0.002 h[9]
0.24 (assumed)[3]
0.29±0.11[5]
0.3509±0.0509[8]
0.351±0.051[7]
0.36±0.17[6]
L (Pan-STARRS)[10]
L (SDSS-MOC)[11]
S (assumed)[3]
13.7[8]
13.80[6]
13.88±0.23[10]
13.9[2][3]
14.28[5]

Orbit and classification

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Burney is a non-family asteroid of the main belt's background population when applying the hierarchical clustering method to its proper orbital elements.[a] In the HCM assessment by Zappala and 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.[3][4]

It orbits the Sun in the inner asteroid belt at a distance of 1.9–2.6 AU once every 3 years and 4 months (1,226 days; semi-major axis of 2.24 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.14 and an inclination of 3° with respect to the ecliptic.[2] The body's observation arc begins with its first observation as 1950 TX2 at Goethe Link Observatory in October 1950, more than 37 years prior to its official discovery observation at Kushiro.[1]

Physical characteristics

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Burney has been characterized as an L-type asteroid by Pan-STARRS' survey and in the SDSS-based taxonomy.[10][11] It is also an assumed S-type.[3]

Rotation period

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In December 2004, a rotational lightcurve of Burney was obtained from photometric observations by Donald Pray at the Carbuncle Hill Observatory (912). Lightcurve analysis gave a well-defined rotation period of 15.515 hours with a brightness variation of 0.60 magnitude (U=3).[9] The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) also measured a high amplitude 0.71 and 0.95 magnitude, which indicates that asteroid has an elongated shape.[3]

Diameter and albedo

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According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's WISE telescope, Burney measures between 3.64 and 4.083 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo between 0.29 and 0.36.[5][6][7][8]

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 4.50 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 13.9.[3]

Naming

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This minor planet was named after Venetia Burney (1918–2009) who, as a girl of eleven, first suggested the mythological name Pluto – the Roman God of the Underworld who was able to make himself invisible – for the dwarf planet Pluto, then considered the ninth planet in the Solar System.[1] The naming of the asteroid "Burney" was not suggested by the asteroid discoverers. It was designated by the Working Group for Small Bodies Nomenclature (SBN) of Division III (Planetary Systems Sciences) of the International Astronomical Union.[citation needed] The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 15 December 2005 (M.P.C. 55720).[12]

Notes

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  1. ^ a b (6235) Burney is considered a background asteroid in both synthetic HCMs by Nesvorny (Ferret) and Knezevic (AstDys-2)

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g "6235 Burney (1987 VB)". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
  2. ^ a b c d "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 6235 Burney (1987 VB)" (2018-01-27 last obs.). Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Archived from the original on 18 September 2020. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "LCDB Data for (6235) Burney". Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB). Retrieved 24 May 2018.
  4. ^ a b "Asteroid 6235 Burney – Nesvorny HCM Asteroid Families V3.0". Small Bodies Data Ferret. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
  5. ^ a b c d Nugent, C. R.; Mainzer, A.; Bauer, J.; Cutri, R. M.; Kramer, E. A.; Grav, T.; et al. (September 2016). "NEOWISE Reactivation Mission Year Two: Asteroid Diameters and Albedos". The Astronomical Journal. 152 (3): 12. arXiv:1606.08923. Bibcode:2016AJ....152...63N. doi:10.3847/0004-6256/152/3/63.
  6. ^ a b c d Nugent, C. R.; Mainzer, A.; Masiero, J.; Bauer, J.; Cutri, R. M.; Grav, T.; et al. (December 2015). "NEOWISE Reactivation Mission Year One: Preliminary Asteroid Diameters and Albedos". The Astrophysical Journal. 814 (2): 13. arXiv:1509.02522. Bibcode:2015ApJ...814..117N. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/814/2/117. S2CID 9341381.
  7. ^ 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.
  8. ^ 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 35447010. (catalog)
  9. ^ a b Pray, Donald P. (September 2005). "Lightcurve analysis of asteroids 106, 752, 847, 1057, 1630, 1670, 1927 1936, 2426, 2612, 2647, 4087, 5635, 5692, and 6235". The Minor Planet Bulletin. 32 (3): 48–51. Bibcode:2005MPBu...32...48P. ISSN 1052-8091.
  10. ^ a b c 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.
  11. ^ a b Carvano, J. M.; Hasselmann, P. H.; Lazzaro, D.; Mothé-Diniz, T. (February 2010). "SDSS-based taxonomic classification and orbital distribution of main belt asteroids". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 510: 12. Bibcode:2010A&A...510A..43C. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/200913322. Retrieved 30 October 2019. (PDS data set)
  12. ^ "MPC/MPO/MPS Archive". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
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