15374 Teta
15374 Teta is bright, stony Hungaria asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, about 3.3 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by Czech astronomers Miloš Tichý and Zdeněk Moravec at Kleť Observatory in South Bohemia on 16 January 1997. It is named after Teta from Czech mythology.
Orbit and classification
Teta is a bright E-type asteroid and member of the Hungaria family, which form the innermost dense concentration of asteroids in the Solar System. It orbits the Sun in the inner main-belt at a distance of 1.7–2.3 astronomical units once every 2 years and 10 months. Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.16 and an inclination of 32° with respect to the ecliptic. A first precovery was obtained during Digitized Sky Survey at Palomar Observatory in 1950, extending the body's observation arc by 47 years prior to its discovery.Physical characteristics
In 2014, an improved rotational lightcurve of Teta was obtained by American astronomer Brian Warner at his Palmer Divide Observatory in Colorado. Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period of hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.30 magnitude.The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.30 – a compromise value between 0.4 and 0.2, corresponding to the Hungaria asteroids both as family and orbital group – and calculates a diameter of 3.35 kilometers using an absolute magnitude of 14.4.