1163 Saga
1163 Saga, provisionally designated, is a background asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 32 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 20 January 1930, by astronomer Karl Reinmuth at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory in southwest Germany. The asteroid is named after the Sagas, a collection of stories from Norse mythology.
Orbit and classification
Saga is classified as a background asteroid, indicating that it does not belong to any known asteroid family. It orbits the Sun in the outer main belt at a distance of 3.1–3.4 AU once every 5 years and 9 months. Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.05 and an inclination of 9° with respect to the ecliptic. The body's observation arc begins at Heidelberg, six weeks after its official discovery observation.Physical characteristics
Saga is an presumed to be an S-type asteroid, although a wide range of measured albedos indicates otherwise .Rotation period
Since 2006, three rotational lightcurves of Saga have been obtained from photometric observations by French amateur astronomers Laurent Bernasconi and René Roy, as well as by astronomers at the Palomar [Transient Factory] in California. Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period between 9.278 and 9.394 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.25 to 0.33 magnitude.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], Saga's diameter measures between 26.29 and 38.113 kilometers, and its surface has an albedo between 0.0640 and 0.147.The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link derives an albedo of 0.1199 and adopts a diameter of 29.11 kilometers from IRAS with an absolute magnitude of 10.6.