1134 Kepler

Orbit and classification

Kepler orbits the Sun at a distance of 1.4–3.9 AU once every 4 years and 5 months (1,601 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.47 and an inclination of 15° with respect to the ecliptic. The body's observation arc begins at Heidelberg, the night after its official discovery observation.

Physical characteristics

In the SMASS taxonomy, Kepler is a stony S-type asteroid.

Diameter and albedo

Its diameter has not been estimated by any of the prominent space-based surveys such as the Infrared Astronomical Satellite IRAS (1982), the Japanese Akari satellite (2006), NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (2009) or its subsequent NEOWISE mission (2013). Based on a generic magnitude-to-diameter conversion, Keplers diameter is between 3 and 8 kilometer for an absolute magnitude of 14.2 and an assumed albedo in the range of 0.25 to 0.05. Since its spectral type falls into the class of stony asteroids, which have an averaged standard albedo around 0.20, Keplers generic diameter is close to 4 kilometers, as the higher a body's albedo (reflectivity), the shorter its diameter at a fixed absolute magnitude (brightness).

Keplers rotation period is 0.1148 day, a pretty common value for asteroids of this size.

Naming

This minor planet was named on the commemoration of the 300th death anniversary of astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571–1630), best known for his laws of planetary motion. Kepler is also honored by a lunar and Martian crater, by Kepler Dorsum – a mountain ridge on the Martian moon Phobos, and by Kepler's Supernova.

Naming citation was first published in 1930, in the astronomy journal Astronomical Notes (AN 240, 135). The space observatory Kepler and its many discovered exoplanets also bear his name (see also Kepler (disambiguation)).

References