8026 Johnmckay
8026 Johnmckay, provisional designation, is a binary Hungaria asteroid and very slow rotator from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 2 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 8 May 1991, by American astronomer Eleanor Helin at the U.S. Palomar Observatory, California, and later named for NASA test pilot John B. McKay.
Classification and orbit
The bright E-type asteroid is a member of the Hungaria family, which form the innermost dense concentration of asteroids in the Solar System. Johnmckay orbits the Sun in the inner main-belt at a distance of 1.8–2.1 AU once every 2 years and 8 months. Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.08 and an inclination of 20° with respect to the ecliptic. The first observation was made at the discovering observatory in 1989, extending the asteroid's observation arc by almost 2 years prior to its discovery.Diameter estimates
According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Johnmckay measures 1.7 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an exceptionally high albedo of 0.81, while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for Hungaria asteroids of 0.30, and calculates a diameter of 2.5 kilometers, based on an absolute magnitude of 14.9.Lightcurves
Primary
Two rotational lightcurves of Johnmckay were obtained for this asteroid from photometric observations by U.S. astronomer Brian D. Warner at the Palmer Divide Station, Colorado. In August 2010, the first lightcurve gave a long rotation period of hours with a brightness variation of 1.0 in magnitude. The second lightcurve from June 2015, gave a similar period of with an amplitude of 0.66 in magnitude.This makes Johnmckay one of the Top 100+ slowest rotators known to exist.