1532 Inari

Discovery

Inari was discovered on 16 September 1938, by Finnish astronomer Yrjö Väisälä at the Iso-Heikkilä Observatory near Turku, Finland. The asteroid was first identified as at Simeiz Observatory in September 1933, and its observation arc begins at Nice Observatory in April 1936, more than two years prior to its official discovery observation at Turku.

Orbit and classification

Inari is a member the Eos family (606), one of the asteroid belt's largest families with nearly 10,000 known asteroids. It orbits the Sun in the outer main belt at a distance of 2.8–3.2 AU once every 5 years and 3 months (1,903 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.05 and an inclination of 9° with respect to the ecliptic.

Physical characteristics

In the Tholen classification, Saimaa is a featureless stony S-type asteroid. The overall spectral type for members of the Eos family is that of a K-type.

Rotation period

In January 2008, a fragmentary rotational lightcurve of Inari was obtained from photometric observations by French amateur astronomer René Roy. Lightcurve analysis gave a longer-than-average rotation period of 25 hours with a low brightness amplitude of 0.09 magnitude (). As of 2017, no secure period has been obtained.

Diameter and albedo

According to the surveys carried out by the Japanese Akari satellite and the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Inari measures between 24.439 and 30.39 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo between 0.060 and 0.087. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link derives an albedo of 0.1049 and a diameter of 28.38 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 10.8.

Naming

This minor planet was named after Lake Inari (Inarijärvi), located north of the Arctic Circle in Lapland, Finland. Lake Inari is the country's third-largest lake and one of the largest lakes in Europe.

The official was published by the Minor Planet Center on 20 February 1976 (M.P.C. 3929).

References