7526 Ohtsuka
7526 Ohtsuka, provisional designation, is a stony asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 7 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by Japanese astronomer Takeshi Urata at Nihondaira Observatory Oohira Station, Japan, on 2 January 1993. The asteroid was named after Japanese astronomer Katsuhito Ohtsuka.
Orbit and classification
Ohtsuka orbits the Sun in the inner main-belt at a distance of 1.8–3.1 AU once every 3 years and 11 months. Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.26 and an inclination of 4° with respect to the ecliptic. First observed as at Heidelberg, the body's observation arc begins at Palomar in 1980.
Rotation period
In September 2007, a rotational lightcurve of Ohtsuka was obtained from photometric observations by Maurice Clark at the Montgomery College in Rockville, Maryland. Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period of hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.16 magnitude.
Diameter and albedo
According to the surveys carried out by the Japanese Akari satellite and NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Ohtsuka has an albedo in the range of 0.03 to 0.11 with a diameter between 6.64 and 11.34 kilometers. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link, however assumes a standard albedo for stony asteroids of 0.20 and calculates and much smaller diameter of 4.7 kilometers.
Naming
This minor planet was named after Japanese astronomer Katsuhito Ohtsuka, also curator of the Tokyo Meteor Network and its meteorite collection. Ohtsuka studies the dynamics of small Solar System bodies, in particular 3200 Phaethon and 96P/Machholz with their complex members. A dynamical relationship between Phaethon and was discovered by him in 2005. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 12 July 2014.