7369 Gavrilin
7369 Gavrilin, provisional designation, is a stony Phocaean asteroid, sizable Mars-crosser, and binary system on an eccentric orbit from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately in diameter. It was discovered on 13 January 1975, by Russian astronomer Tamara Smirnova at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory in Nauchnyj, on the Crimean peninsula. The assumed S-type asteroid has a long rotation period of 49.1 hours. It was named after Russian composer Valery Gavrilin. The discovery of its 2.4-kilometer sized minor-planet moon was announced in October 2008.
Orbit and classification
Gavrilin is both a member of the main belt's Phocaea family and a member of the Mars-crossing asteroids, a dynamically unstable group between the main belt and the near-Earth populations, crossing the orbit of Mars at 1.66 AU.It orbits the Sun in the inner asteroid belt at a distance of 1.6–3.1 AU once every 3 years and 8 months. Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.32 and an inclination of 22° with respect to the ecliptic. The body's observation arc begins with its first observation as at the Purple Mountain Observatory in January 1975, eleven days prior to its official discovery observation, by Tamara Smirnova at Nauchnyj.
Numbering and naming
This minor planet was numbered on 23 January 1997. It was named after the awarded Russian composer Valery Gavrilin. The asteroid's name was suggested by the Union of Concert Workers of Russia, and its official was published by the Minor Planet Center on 24 January 2000.Physical characteristics
Gavrilin is an assumed, stony S-type asteroid, the most common spectral type in the inner asteroid belt. The assumption also agrees with the overall spectral type for the Phocaea family.Rotation period and satellite
In January 2008, rotational lightcurves of Gavrilin were obtained from photometric observations by the BINAST group including David Higgins at the Hunters Hill Observatory in Australia and Petr Pravec at the Ondřejov Observatory in the Czech Republic. Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period of 49.12 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.25 magnitude.The photometric observation also revealed that Gavrilin is a synchronous binary asteroid with a minor-planet moon in its orbit. The discovery was announced in October 2008. The satellite measures approximately 2.41 kilometers in diameter and has an orbital period identical to that of the primary's rotation, 49.12 hours.