2732 Witt

2732 Witt, provisional designation, is a bright asteroid and namesake of the Witt family located in the central regions of the asteroid belt, approximately in diameter. It was discovered on 19 March 1926, by German astronomer Max Wolf at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory in Heidelberg, Germany. The unusual A-type asteroid was named after astronomer Carl Gustav Witt.

Orbit and classification

Witt the parent body and namesake of the Witt family, a large family of stony asteroids with more than 1,600 known members.
It orbits the Sun in the central main-belt at a distance of 2.7–2.8 AU once every 4 years and 7 months. Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.02 and an inclination of 6° with respect to the ecliptic. The body's observation arc begins at Heidelberg in April 1926, two week after its official discovery observation.

Physical characteristics

In the SMASS classification, Witt is an uncommon A-type asteroid, while the overall spectral type for members of the Witt family is that of an S-type.

Diameter and albedo

According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Witt measures 11.001 kilometers in diameter and its surface has a high albedo of 0.305.

Rotation period

As of 2018, no rotational lightcurve of Witt has been obtained from photometric observations. The body's rotation period, pole and shape remain unknown.

Naming

This minor planet was named by Brian G. Marsden after Carl Gustav Witt, a German astronomer at the Berlin Observatory and a discoverer of minor planets himself, best known for the discovery of the near-Earth asteroid 433 Eros. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 22 September 1983.