15262 Abderhalden

Orbit and classification

Abderhalden is a member of the Themis family, a dynamical family of outer main belt asteroids with nearly coplanar ecliptical orbits. It orbits the Sun in the outer main-belt at a distance of 2.8–3.7 astronomical units (AU) once every 5 years and 9 months (2,102 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.14 and an inclination of 1° with respect to the ecliptic. The first precovery was obtained at Crimea–Nauchnij in 1978, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 12 years prior to its discovery.

Physical characteristics

Rotation period

In October 2013, a rotational lightcurve of Abderhalden was obtained from photometric observation taken by astronomers at the Palomar Transient Factory in California. Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period of hours with a brightness variation of 0.21 magnitude ().

Diameter and albedo

The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.08, a standard albedo for carbonaceous asteroids of the Themis family, and calculates a diameter of 8.4 kilometers, while the NEOWISE mission of NASA's space-based Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer finds an albedo of 0.062 with a corresponding diameter of 12.2 kilometers and an absolute magnitude of 13.2.

Naming

This minor planet was named in memory of Swiss biochemist and physiologist Emil Abderhalden (1877–1950). He was a researcher in the field of physiological chemistry, founder of modern dietetics, and promoter of public welfare. Abderhalden taught physiology at the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg from 1911 until the end of World War II. The approved naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 13 October 2000 (M.P.C. 41387).

References