3333 Schaber
3333 Schaber, provisional designation, is a dark background asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately in diameter. It was discovered on 9 October 1980, by American astronomer Carolyn Shoemaker at the Palomar Observatory in California. The presumably elongated C-type asteroid has a rotation period of 10.97 hours. It was named after American geologist Gerald Schaber of the USGS.
Orbit and classification
Schaber is a non-family asteroid from the main belt's background population. It orbits the Sun in the outer asteroid belt at a distance of 2.4–3.8 AU once every 5 years and 7 months. Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.22 and an inclination of 12° with respect to the ecliptic.The asteroid was first observed as at the Purple Mountain Observatory in November 1969. The body's observation arc begins at Palomar on 7 October 1980, or two nights prior to its official discovery observation.
Physical characteristics
Schaber is an assumed C-type asteroid.Rotation period
In September 2009, a rotational lightcurve of Schaber was obtained from photometric observations by Maurice Clark at the Montgomery College Observatory in Maryland. Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period of 10.971 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.46 magnitude, indicative for a somewhat elongated shape.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, Schaber measures 26.538 and 27.67 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.048 and 0.044, respectively.The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for carbonaceous asteroids of 0.057 and calculates a diameter of 25.44 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 11.7.