1159 Granada
1159 Granada, provisional designation, is a dark background asteroid and relatively slow rotator from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 30 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 2 September 1929, by astronomer Karl Reinmuth at the Heidelberg Observatory in southwest Germany. The asteroid was named for the Spanish city and province of Granada.
Orbit and classification
Granada is a background asteroid that does not belong to any known asteroid family. It orbits the Sun in the inner main-belt at a distance of 2.2–2.5 AU once every 3 years and 8 months. Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.06 and an inclination of 13° with respect to the ecliptic. The body's observation arc begins nine days after its official discovery observation at Heidelberg.Physical characteristics
Although Granada is an assumed S-type asteroid, it has a notably low albedo for an asteroid of the inner main-belt, even below that of most carbonaceous asteroids.Slow rotation
In September 1984, a rotational lightcurve of Granada was obtained from photometric observations by astronomer Richard Binzel. Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period of 31 hours with a brightness variation of 0.28 magnitude. In October 2010, photometric observations in the R-band by astronomers at the Palomar Transient Factory gave a period of 72.852 hours and an amplitude of 0.24. While not being a slow rotator, Granadas period is significantly longer than the typical 2 to 20 hours measures for most asteroids.Diameter and albedo
According to the surveys carried out by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite IRAS, the Japanese Akari satellite and the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Granada measures between 27.839 and 34.65 kilometers in diameter and its surface has a low albedo between 0.028 and 0.0471.The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link derives an albedo of 0.0439 and a diameter of 29.94 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 11.63.