1541 Estonia
1541 Estonia is an asteroid from the central regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 21 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 12 February 1939, by astronomer Yrjö Väisälä at the Iso-Heikkilä Observatory near Turku, Finland. The asteroid was named after the Baltic country of Estonia.
Orbit and classification
Estonia is a non-family asteroid from the main belt's background population. It orbits the Sun in the central main belt at a distance of 2.6–3.0 AU once every 4 years and 7 months. Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.07 and an inclination of 5° with respect to the ecliptic.The asteroid was first identified as at the Simeiz Observatory in April 1916. The body's observation arc begins with its identification as at Yerkes Observatory in November 1923, more than 15 years prior to its official discovery observation at Turku.
Physical characteristics
In the SMASS classification, Estonia is an Xc-subtype asteroid; asteroids of the Xc subtype have characteristics intermediate of X-type asteroids and carbonaceous C-type asteroids.Rotation period
In November 2015, a rotational lightcurve of Estonia was obtained from photometric observations by French amateur astronomer René Roy. Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period of 10.1 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.13 magnitude.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, Estonia measures between 19.53 and 24.542 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo between 0.0976 and 0.140.The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link derives an albedo of 0.1314 and a diameter of 20.15 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 11.3.