2531 Cambridge

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Main-belt asteroid

title: "2531 Cambridge" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["eos-asteroids", "discoveries-by-edward-l.-g.-bowell", "named-minor-planets", "astronomical-objects-discovered-in-1980"] description: "Main-belt asteroid" topic_path: "general/eos-asteroids" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2531_Cambridge" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Main-belt asteroid ::

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

Field	Value
minorplanet	yes
name	2531 Cambridge
background	#D6D6D6
discovery_ref
discovered	11 June 1980
discoverer	E. Bowell
discovery_site	Anderson Mesa Stn.
mpc_name	(2531) Cambridge
alt_names	1980 LD1931 AP
1942 EQ1952 BG
1963 FK1963 HD
1971 VY1974 KH
A916 FE
named_after	Cambridge (UK) and Cambridge, MA (USA)
mp_category	main-belt(outer)
Eos
orbit_ref
epoch	4 September 2017 (JD 2458000.5)
uncertainty	0
observation_arc	86.40 yr (31,557 days)
aphelion	3.1787 AU
perihelion	2.8383 AU
semimajor	3.0085 AU
eccentricity	0.0566
period	5.22 yr (1,906 days)
mean_anomaly	199.25°
mean_motion	/ day
inclination	11.032°
asc_node	104.36°
arg_peri	32.390°
mean_diameter	km
19.15 km (derived)
km
km
km
rotation	h
h
albedo

0.2102 (derived)

| spectral_type = S (assumed) | abs_magnitude = (R)

2531 Cambridge, provisional designation , is a stony Eoan asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 20 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 11 June 1980, by American astronomer Edward Bowell at Lowell's Anderson Mesa Station in Arizona, United States. The asteroid was named for the "centers of learning in England and in Massachusetts".

Classification and orbit

Cambridge is a member of the Eos family (606), the largest asteroid family in the outer main belt consisting of nearly 10,000 known asteroids. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.8–3.2 AU once every 5 years and 3 months (1,906 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.06 and an inclination of 11° with respect to the ecliptic.

It was first identified as Simeiz Observatory in 1916. The body's observation arc begins with a precovery taken at Lowell Observatory in 1931, or 49 years prior to its official discovery observation at Anderson Mesa.

Physical characteristics

Cambridge is an assumed stony S-type asteroid, in line with the overall spectral type for members of the Eos family.

Rotation period

In February 2004, a rotational lightcurve of Cambridge was obtained from photometric observations by French amateur astronomer René Roy. Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period of 8.80 hours with a brightness variation of 0.21 magnitude (). In October 2010, observations at the Palomar Transient Factory, California, gave a longer period of 12.200 hours with an amplitude of 0.20 magnitude ().

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, Cambridge measures between 19.15 and 23.44 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo between 0.147 and 0.2104.

The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link derives an albedo of 0.2102 and a diameter of 19.15 kilometers with an absolute magnitude of 10.9, identical with the results obtained by IRAS.

Naming

This minor planet was named after the University of Cambridge in England and the universities in the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts (United States), where the Minor Planet Center (MPC) is located at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. The approved naming citation was published by the MPC on 8 April 1982 (M.P.C. 6834).

References

|type = 2017-06-05 last obs. |title = JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 2531 Cambridge (1980 LD) |url = https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=2002531 |publisher = Jet Propulsion Laboratory |accessdate = 18 June 2017}}

|title = 2531 Cambridge (1980 LD) |work = Minor Planet Center |url = https://www.minorplanetcenter.net/db_search/show_object?object_id=2531 |accessdate = 18 June 2017}}

|title = MPC/MPO/MPS Archive |work = Minor Planet Center |url = https://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/ECS/MPCArchive/MPCArchive_TBL.html |accessdate = 18 June 2017}}

|title = Asteroids and comets rotation curves – (2531) Cambridge |last = Behrend |first = Raoul |publisher = Geneva Observatory |url = http://obswww.unige.ch/~behrend/page4cou.html#002531 |accessdate = 18 June 2017}}

|title = Asteroid 2531 Cambridge – Nesvorny HCM Asteroid Families V3.0 |work = Small Bodies Data Ferret |url = https://sbntools.psi.edu/ferret/SimpleSearch/results.action?targetName=2531+Cambridge#Asteroid%202531%20CambridgeEAR-A-VARGBDET-5-NESVORNYFAM-V3.0 |accessdate = 26 October 2019}}

|title = LCDB Data for (2531) Cambridge |publisher = Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB) |url = http://www.minorplanet.info/PHP/generateOneAsteroidInfo.php?AstInfo=2531%7CCambridge |accessdate = 18 June 2017}}

|first1 = E. F. |last1 = Tedesco |first2 = P. V. |last2 = Noah |first3 = M. |last3 = Noah |first4 = S. D. |last4 = Price |date = October 2004 |title = IRAS Minor Planet Survey V6.0 |url = https://sbnarchive.psi.edu/pds3/iras/IRAS_A_FPA_3_RDR_IMPS_V6_0/data/diamalb.tab |journal = NASA Planetary Data System |volume = 12 |pages = IRAS-A-FPA-3-RDR-IMPS-V6.0 |bibcode = 2004PDSS...12.....T |accessdate = 22 October 2019}}

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