2044 Wirt
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | C. A. Wirtanen |
| Discovery site | Lick Obs. |
| Discovery date | 8 November 1950 |
| Designations | |
| MPC designation | 2044 Wirt |
|
Named after
|
Carl Wirtanen (discoverer himself) |
| 1950 VE | |
| Mars-crosser · Phocaea | |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Epoch 16 February 2017 (JD 2457800.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 65.97 yr (24,095 days) |
| Aphelion | 3.1981 AU |
| Perihelion | 1.5633 AU |
| 2.3807 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.3433 |
| 3.67 yr (1,342 days) | |
| 359.65° | |
| 0° 16m 5.88s / day | |
| Inclination | 23.969° |
| 53.649° | |
| 50.449° | |
| Known satellites | 1 (⌀: 2 km; p: 19.0 h) |
| Earth MOID | 0.6553 AU |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 6.65 km (calculated) 6.66±0.6 km (IRAS:2) |
|
3.6895±0.0003 h 3.6898 h 3.690±0.00005 h 3.6900±0.0003 h |
|
|
0.1907±0.038 (IRAS:2) 0.23 (assumed) |
|
| S | |
| 12.838±0.002 (R) · 13.1 · 13.3 | |
2044 Wirt, provisional designation 1950 VE, is a binary Phocaea asteroid classified as a Mars-crosser, approximately 6.7 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 8 November 1950, by American astronomer Carl Wirtanen at Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton, California.
Classified by the MPC and JPL's SBDB as Mars-crosser, it is also listed as a stony Phocaea asteroid of the inner main-belt by the LCDB. orbits the Sun at a distance of 1.6–3.2 AU once every 3 years and 8 months (1,342 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.34 and an inclination of 24° with respect to the ecliptic.Wirt's observation arc begins two weeks after its official discovery with the first recorded observation at Lick Observatory on 22 November 1950.
Between 2005 and 2010, several rotational light-curve were obtained for this asteroid from photometric observations taken by astronomers Donald P. Pray, Petr Pravec, Peter Kušnirák, Walter R. Cooney Jr., Rui Goncalves and Raoul Behrend, as well as at the Palomar Transient Factory. The light-curves gave a well-defined rotation period between 3.689 and 3.690 hours with a brightness variation between 0.12 and 0.26 magnitude (U=n.a./3/3/3/3/2). During the photometric observations in December 2005, a 1.89-kilometer sized satellite orbiting Wirt was discovered. The binary asteroid has diameter ratio of 0.25, and the moon's orbital period is 18.97 hours.
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