1042 Amazone

Orbit and classification

Amazone orbits the Sun in the outer main-belt at a distance of 3.0–3.5 AU once every 5 years and 10 months (2,131 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.09 and an inclination of 21° with respect to the ecliptic. The body's observation arc begins three weeks after its official discovery observation.

Physical characteristics

The carbonaceous asteroid has been characterized as a dark and reddish P-type asteroid by the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), and as an X-type asteroid by Pan-STARRS photometric survey.

Diameter and albedo

According to the surveys carried out by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite IRAS, the Japanese Akari satellite, and the NEOWISE mission of NASA's WISE space-telescope, Amazone measures between 63.9 and 73.6 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.039 to 0.054. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link derives an albedo of 0.036 and a diameter of 73.6 kilometers.

Slow rotator

In April 2005, astronomer Brian Warner obtained two divergent rotational lightcurves for Amazone. The longer solution gave a long rotation period of 540 hours with a brightness variation of 0.25 magnitude () The astronomer assumes the full lightcurve to be bimodal, having two maximums and minimums per rotation.

Naming

Based on a proposal by Gustav Stracke, the asteroid was named after the Amazons, a race of woman warriors in Greek mythology. They had no men and joined with their neighbors, killed the sons and educated the daughters of whom the teats were burnt so that they could discharge the arrows more rapidly. The asteroids 271 Penthesilea and 10295 Hippolyta were named after queens of the Amazons, while 5143 Heracles was named after the hero who fought them.

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