8187 Akiramisawa

8187 Akiramisawa, provisional designation, is an Eos asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt. It was discovered by Japanese astronomer Satoru Otomo at Kiyosato Observatory on 15 December 1992. The assumed C-type asteroid has a rotation period of 5.8 hours and measures approximately in diameter. It was named after Japanese botanist Akira Misawa.

Orbit and classification

Akiramisawa is a member the Eos family, the largest asteroid family of the outer main belt consisting of nearly 10,000 known members. It orbits the Sun in the outer asteroid belt at a distance of 2.6–3.4 AU once every 5 years and 2 months. Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.12 and an inclination of 12° with respect to the ecliptic. In October 1971, it was first identified as at the Chilean Cerro El Roble Station, extending the body's observation arc by 21 years prior to its official discovery observation at Kiyosato.

This minor planet was named in honour of Japanese botanist Akira Misawa, a professor at Chiba University, who examined the effects of light pollution on plants. The was published by the Minor Planet Center on 9 January 2001.

A rotational lightcurve of Akiramisawa was obtained from photometric observations made at the Palomar Transient Factory in June 2010. Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period of hours with a high brightness amplitude of 0.90 magnitude. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for carbonaceous asteroids of 0.057, and calculates a diameter of 11.9 kilometers with an absolute magnitude of 13.36.