2442 Corbett


2442 Corbett, provisional designation, is a vestoid asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 8.5 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 3 October 1980, by Czech astronomer Zdeňka Vávrová at Kleť Observatory, now in the Czech Republic. It is named after British-Indian hunter Jim Corbett.

Orbit and classification

Corbett is a V-type asteroid that orbits the Sun in the inner main-belt at a distance of 2.1–2.7 AU once every 3 years and 8 months. Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.12 and an inclination of 5° with respect to the ecliptic. First identified as at Heidelberg in 1928, the body's observation arc begins in 1944, when it was identified as at Turku Observatory in Finland, 36 years prior to its official discovery observation at Klet.

Rotation period

A rotational lightcurve of Corbett was obtained from photometric observations by French amateur astronomer René Roy in July 2009. Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period of 10 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.12 magnitude.
Photometric observations in the R-band at the Palomar Transient Factory in 2010 and 2013, gave a divergent period of 11.453 and 49.507 hours with an amplitude of 0.19 and 0.10 magnitude, respectively.

Diameter and albedo

According to the survey carried out by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Corbett measures 8.327 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.255, while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo of stony asteroids of 0.20 and calculates a diameter of 8.57 kilometers with an absolute magnitude of 12.7.

Naming

This minor planet was named in memory of British-Indian Jim Corbett, born in Nainital, India. Corbett was a colonel in the British Indian Army and a hunter of man-eating tigers and leopards in India, who became a nature conservationist, naturalist and author. He is known for his 1944 hunting biography Man-Eaters of Kumaon. The approved naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 8 February 1982.