1297 Quadea

Orbit and classification

Quadea is a member 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 (1,917 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.07 and an inclination of 9° with respect to the ecliptic.

The body's observation arc begins more than six years prior to its official discovery observation with its first identification as at Heidelberg in November 1927.

Physical characteristics

Quadea has been characterized as a carbonaceous C-type asteroid by PanSTARRS photometric survey. The asteroid is also an assumed S-type asteroid, while the overall spectral type for members of the Eos family is that of a K-type, with albedos in-between the S-and C-types.

Rotation period

Since 2006, several rotational lightcurves of Quadea have obtained by astronomers Pierre Antonini and Brian Warner, as well as from photometric observations at the Palomar Transient Factory, California, and the Oakley Southern Sky Observatory (E09) in Australia. Analysis of the best-rated lightcurve gave a well-defined rotation period of 6.267 hours and a brightness variation of 0.35 magnitude ().

Diameter and albedo

According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Quadea measures between 19.62 and 22.42 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo between 0.1551 and 0.200, while the Japanese Akari satellite found a diameter of 24.7 kilometers with an albedo of 0.142. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.14 and calculates a diameter of 23.47 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 10.9.

Naming

This minor planet was named by the discoverer after the parents-in-law of his brother, E. Reinmuth. The official naming citation was mentioned in The Names of the Minor Planets by Paul Herget in 1955 (H 119).

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