729 Watsonia is a rare-type asteroid and namesake of the Watsonia family from the central region of the asteroid belt. It was named after the Canadian-American astronomer James C. Watson. Watsonia occulted the star 54 Leonis (HIP 53417, a 4.3 Magnitude Star) on 2013 Mar 03 at 01:48.[3]

729 Watsonia
Discovery
Discovered byJoel Hastings Metcalf
Discovery siteWinchester, Massachusetts
Discovery date9 February 1912
Designations
(729) Watsonia
Pronunciation/wɒtˈsniə/[1]
1912 OD
Orbital characteristics[2]
Epoch 31 July 2016 (JD 2457600.5)
Uncertainty parameter 0
Observation arc98.79 yr (36082 d)
Aphelion3.0270 AU (452.83 Gm)
Perihelion2.4917 AU (372.75 Gm)
2.7594 AU (412.80 Gm)
Eccentricity0.096988
4.58 yr (1674.2 d)
223.02°
0° 12m 54.108s / day
Inclination18.042°
124.388°
88.376°
Physical characteristics
Mean radius
24.575±0.75 km
25.230 h (1.0513 d)
0.1381±0.009
9.31

Description edit

This object is the namesake of the Watsonia family, an Asteroid family of approximately 100 asteroids that share similar spectral properties and orbital elements; hence they may have arisen from the same collisional event. All members have a relatively high orbital inclination.[4]

References edit

  1. ^ "watsonia". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  2. ^ Yeomans, Donald K., "729 Watsonia", JPL Small-Body Database Browser, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, retrieved 5 May 2016.
  3. ^ Pier Paolo Ricci (29 November 2012), Almanacco astronomico 2013 Astronomical almanac 2013, Lulu.com, pp. 322–, ISBN 978-1-291-21157-3
  4. ^ Novaković, Bojan; et al. (November 2011), "Families among high-inclination asteroids", Icarus, vol. 216, no. 1, pp. 69–81, arXiv:1108.3740, Bibcode:2011Icar..216...69N, doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2011.08.016.

External links edit