1249 Rutherfordia
1249 Rutherfordia, provisional designation, is an elongated, stony Florian asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 13 kilometers in diameter. Discovered by Karl Reinmuth at Heidelberg Observatory in 1932, the asteroid was named after Rutherford, New Jersey a suburb of New York City, United States.
Discovery
Rutherfordia was discovered on 4 November 1932, by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory in southwest Germany. On 29 November 1932, it was independently discovered by Belgian astronomer Eugène Delporte at the Uccle Observatory in Belgium. The Minor Planet Center only recognizes the first discoverer.Orbit and classification
Rutherfordia is a member of the Flora family, a giant asteroid family and the largest family of stony asteroids in the main-belt. It orbits the Sun in the inner asteroid belt at a distance of 2.1–2.4 AU once every 3 years and 4 months. Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.08 and an inclination of 5° with respect to the ecliptic.The asteroid was first observed as at Simeiz Observatory in September 1925. The body's observation arc begins at Heidelberg on 22 November 1932, or three weeks after its official discovery observation.
Physical characteristics
In the Tholen classification, Rutherfordia is an S-type asteroid, as is the overall spectral type of the Flora family.Rotation period
Several rotational lightcurves of Rutherfordia have been obtained from photometric observations since 2001. The so-far best-rated lightcurve with a rotation period of 18.242 hours and a brightness amplitude of 0.71 magnitude, was measured by the Spanish amateur astronomer group OBAS in December 2015. The asteroid's elongated shape, indicated by its high brightness amplitude has previously been confirmed by physical modelling ''.''Spin axis
In 2013, an international study modeled a lightcurve from various data sources including the Uppsala Asteroid Photometric Catalogue and the Palomar Transient Factory survey. The lightcurve gave a concurring period of 18.2183 hours and allowed for the determination of two spin axis of and in ecliptic coordinates.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, Rutherfordia measures between 12.41 and 15.77 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo between 0.172 and 0.2778.The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link adopts the results obtained by IRAS, that is, an albedo of 0.2778 and a diameter of 12.41 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 11.54.