1608 Muñoz

Quality 0.50 · 0 views · Updated 2 months ago

Flora asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt

title: "1608 Muñoz" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["flora-asteroids", "discoveries-by-miguel-itzigsohn", "named-minor-planets", "astronomical-objects-discovered-in-1951"] description: "Flora asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt" topic_path: "general/flora-asteroids" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1608_Muñoz" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Flora asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox planet"]

Field	Value
minorplanet	yes
name	1608 Muñoz
background	#D6D6D6
discovery_ref
discoverer	M. Itzigsohn
discovery_site	La Plata Obs.
discovered	1 September 1951
mpc_name	(1608) Muñoz
alt_names	1951 RZ
1961 UD
named_after
(Argentine astronomer)
mp_category	main-belt(inner)
Flora
orbit_ref
epoch	27 April 2019 (JD 2458600.5)
uncertainty	0
observation_arc	69.29 yr (25,309 d)
aphelion	2.5892 AU
perihelion	1.8381 AU
semimajor	2.2137 AU
eccentricity	0.1697
period	3.29 yr (1,203 d)
mean_anomaly	212.24°
mean_motion	/ day
inclination	3.9436°
asc_node	356.96°
arg_peri	316.47°
mean_diameter

| rotation = | albedo =

| spectral_type = S (assumed) | abs_magnitude = 12.60 12.7 12.90

1608 Muñoz, provisional designation , is a Flora asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 6.5 km in diameter. It was discovered on 1 September 1951, by Argentine astronomer Miguel Itzigsohn at the La Plata Astronomical Observatory, in La Plata, Argentina. The S-type asteroid has a rotation period of 5.3 hours. It was named after , one of the assistant astronomers at the discovering observatory.

Orbit and classification

Muñoz is a member of the Flora family (402), a giant asteroid clan and the largest family of stony asteroids in the main-belt. It orbits the Sun in the inner asteroid belt at a distance of 1.8–2.6 AU once every 3 years and 3 months (1,203 days; semi-major axis of 2.21 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.17 and an inclination of 4° with respect to the ecliptic. It was first imaged on a precovery taken at the Lowell Observatory in November 1948, extending the body's observation arc by 3 years prior to its official discovery observation.

Naming

This minor planet was named in memory of , who was an assistant at the La Plata Observatory in the department of extra-meridian astronomy. Muñoz was involved in computational and observational work on minor planets for many years and also took an active part in site testing for the Argentine telescope, also known as the 85-inch or 2.15-meter Jorge Sahade Telescope (also see ). The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 1 August 1980 (M.P.C. 5449).

Physical characteristics

Being a Florian asteroid, Muñoz is likely a stony, relatively bright S-type asteroid.

Rotation period

Muñoz is a target of the Photometric Survey for Asynchronous Binary Asteroids (BinAstPhot Survey) led by astronomer Petr Pravec at the Ondřejov Observatory in the Czech Republic. In September 2017, two rotational lightcurves were obtained from photometric observations by Pravec in collaboration with Serbian astronomer Vladimir Benishek at Belgrade Observatory, who observed the asteroid over three subsequent nights at Sopot Astronomical Observatory . Analysis of the bimodal lightcurve gave a well-defined, nearly identical rotation period of and hours, respectively, with a brightness amplitude of 0.36 magnitude ().

Diameter and albedo

According to the surveys carried out by the Japanese Akari satellite and the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Muñoz measures between 6.15 and 7.8 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo between 0.265 and 0.40. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.24 – derived from 8 Flora, the principal body of the Flora family – and calculates a diameter of 7.82 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 12.7.

Notes

References

|type = 2018-02-18 last obs. |title = JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 1608 Munoz (1951 RZ) |url = https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=2001608 |publisher = Jet Propulsion Laboratory |access-date = 8 February 2019}}

|last = Schmadel | first = Lutz D. |title = Dictionary of Minor Planet Names |publisher = Springer Berlin Heidelberg |chapter = (1608) Muñoz |page = 127 |date = 2007 |isbn = 978-3-540-29925-7 |doi = 10.1007/978-3-540-29925-7_1609 }}

|title = 1608 Munoz (1951 RZ) |work = Minor Planet Center |url = https://www.minorplanetcenter.net/db_search/show_object?object_id=1608 |access-date = 8 February 2019}}

|title = MPC/MPO/MPS Archive |work = Minor Planet Center |url = https://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/ECS/MPCArchive/MPCArchive_TBL.html |access-date = 8 February 2019}}

|display-authors = 6 |first1 = Joseph R. |last1 = Masiero |first2 = A. K. |last2 = Mainzer |first3 = T. |last3 = Grav |first4 = J. M. |last4 = Bauer |first5 = R. M. |last5 = Cutri |first6 = C. |last6 = Nugent |first7 = M. S. |last7 = Cabrera |date = November 2012 |title = Preliminary Analysis of WISE/NEOWISE 3-Band Cryogenic and Post-cryogenic Observations of Main Belt Asteroids |journal = The Astrophysical Journal Letters |volume = 759 |issue = 1 |page = 5 |bibcode = 2012ApJ...759L...8M |doi = 10.1088/2041-8205/759/1/L8 |arxiv = 1209.5794|s2cid = 46350317 }}

|display-authors = 6 |first1 = Joseph R. |last1 = Masiero |first2 = T. |last2 = Grav |first3 = A. K. |last3 = Mainzer |first4 = C. R. |last4 = Nugent |first5 = J. M. |last5 = Bauer |first6 = R. |last6 = Stevenson |first7 = S. |last7 = Sonnett |date = August 2014 |title = Main-belt Asteroids with WISE/NEOWISE: Near-infrared Albedos |journal = The Astrophysical Journal |volume = 791 |issue = 2 |page = 11 |bibcode = 2014ApJ...791..121M |doi = 10.1088/0004-637X/791/2/121 |arxiv = 1406.6645|s2cid = 119293330 }}

|title = Asteroid 1608 Munoz |work = Small Bodies Data Ferret |url = https://sbntools.psi.edu/ferret/SimpleSearch/results.action?targetName=1608+Munoz |access-date = 8 February 2019}}

|title = LCDB Data for (1608) Muñoz |publisher = Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB) |url = http://www.minorplanet.info/PHP/generateOneAsteroidInfo.php?AstInfo=1608%7CMuñoz |access-date = 8 February 2019}}

|display-authors = 6 |first1 = A. |last1 = Mainzer |first2 = T. |last2 = Grav |first3 = J. |last3 = Masiero |first4 = E. |last4 = Hand |first5 = J. |last5 = Bauer |first6 = D. |last6 = Tholen |first7 = R. S. |last7 = McMillan |first8 = T. |last8 = Spahr |first9 = R. M. |last9 = Cutri |first10 = E. |last10 = Wright |first11 = J. |last11 = Watkins |first12 = W. |last12 = Mo |first13 = C. |last13 = Maleszewski |date = November 2011 |title = NEOWISE Studies of Spectrophotometrically Classified Asteroids: Preliminary Results |journal = The Astrophysical Journal |volume = 741 |issue = 2 |page = 25 |bibcode = 2011ApJ...741...90M |doi = 10.1088/0004-637X/741/2/90 |arxiv = 1109.6407 |s2cid = 118700974 }} (catalog)

|display-authors = 6 |first1 = A. K. |last1 = Mainzer |first2 = J. M. |last2 = Bauer |first3 = R. M. |last3 = Cutri |first4 = T. |last4 = Grav |first5 = E. A. |last5 = Kramer |first6 = J. R. |last6 = Masiero |first7 = C. R. |last7 = Nugent |first8 = S. M. |last8 = Sonnett |first9 = R. A. |last9 = Stevenson |first10 = E. L. |last10 = Wright |date = June 2016 |title = NEOWISE Diameters and Albedos V1.0 |url = https://sbnarchive.psi.edu/pds3/non_mission/EAR_A_COMPIL_5_NEOWISEDIAM_V1_0/data/neowise_mainbelt.tab |journal = NASA Planetary Data System |pages = EAR-A-COMPIL-5-NEOWISEDIAM-V1.0 |bibcode = 2016PDSS..247.....M |access-date= 8 February 2019}}

|author = Benishek, Vladimir |date = January 2018 |title = Lightcurve and Rotation Period Determinations for 29 Asteroids |journal = The Minor Planet Bulletin |volume = 45 |issue = 1 |pages = 82–91 |issn = 1052-8091 |bibcode = 2018MPBu...45...82B}}

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::