4446 Carolyn
4446 Carolyn, provisional designation, is a dark Hildian asteroid from the outermost regions of the asteroid belt, approximately in diameter. It was discovered on 15 October 1985, by American astronomer Edward Bowell at the Anderson Mesa Station of the Lowell Observatory near Flagstaff, Arizona, in the United States. The asteroid was named after American astronomer Carolyn Shoemaker. It has a longer than average rotation period of 40.9 hours.
Orbit and classification
Carolyn is a member of the dynamical Hilda group of asteroids. However, it is not a member of any asteroid family but an asteroid of the main-belt's background population when applying the hierarchical clustering method to its proper orbital elements. It orbits the Sun in the outermost asteroid belt at a distance of 2.9–5.1 AU once every 8 years. Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.28 and an inclination of 7° with respect to the ecliptic.The body's observation arc begins with its first observations as at Crimea–Nauchnij in September 1977, or 8 years prior to its official discovery observation at Anderson Mesa.
Physical characteristics
Carolyn is an assumed carbonaceous C-type asteroid.Rotation period
In July 2016, a first rotational lightcurve of Carolyn was obtained from photometric observations by astronomers Brian Warner, Robert Stephens and Dan Coley at the Center for Solar System Studies in California. Lightcurve analysis gave a well-defined rotation period of 40.92 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.22 magnitude. While not being a slow rotator, its period is significantly longer than the typical 2 to 20 hours measured for most asteroids.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, Carolyn measures 28.645 and 31.57 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.086 and 0.075, respectively.The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for carbonaceous asteroids of 0.057 and calculates a diameter of 32.03 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 11.2.