15268 Wendelinefroger

Orbit

The S-type asteroid orbits the Sun in the inner main belt at a distance of 1.8–2.9 astronomical units (AU) once every 3 years and 8 months (1,329 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.23 and an inclination of 3° with respect to the ecliptic. It was first identified as at Crimea–Nauchnij in 1979, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 11 years prior to its discovery.

Physical characteristics

Primary

In October 2008, a rotational lightcurve was obtained from photometric observations at the Leura Observatory (E17), Australia. It gave a rotation period of 2.422 hours with a low brightness variation of 0.07 magnitude, which indicates that the asteroid is of nearly spheroidal shape (). The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link (CALL) assumes a standard albedo for stony asteroids of 0.20 and calculates a diameter of 3.4 kilometer with an absolute magnitude of 14.7.

Secondary

During the photometric observations in 2008, a minor-planet moon was also discovered, orbiting Wendelinefroger every hours at a distance of 8.7 kilometers. Based on mutual occultations of Wendelinefroger and its moon, the diameter ratio for the two bodies is at least 0.24 (i.e. secondary-to-primary mean diameter ratio), which translates into an estimated diameter of 0.8 kilometer or more for the asteroid's moon, using CALL's calculated diameter for the primary.

Naming

This minor planet is named in honour of Belgian female singer Wendeline Froger (born 1948), who has a soprano voice and performs at church celebrations, weddings and for selected audiences at her residence. She has a preference to sing Lieder by Robert Schumann, after whom the minor planet 4003 Schumann is named. The approved naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 12 December 2008 (M.P.C. 64563).

Notes

References