10245 Inselsberg

10245 Inselsberg, provisional designation 6071 P-L, is a Gefion asteroid from the central regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 7 kilometers (4 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 24 September 1960, by Ingrid and Cornelis van Houten at Leiden, and Tom Gehrels at Palomar Observatory in California, United States. The likely S-type asteroid was named for the German mountain Großer Inselsberg.^[1]

10245 Inselsberg

Discovery[1]
Discovered by	C. J. van Houten I. van Houten-G. T. Gehrels
Discovery site	Palomar Obs.
Discovery date	24 September 1960
Designations
MPC designation	(10245) Inselsberg
Named after	Großer Inselsberg (German mountain)
Alternative designations	6071 P-L · 1995 DH2
Minor planet category	main-belt[1][2] · (middle) Gefion[3]
Orbital characteristics[2]
Epoch 23 March 2018 (JD 2458200.5)
Uncertainty parameter 0
Observation arc	63.75 yr (23,284 d)
Aphelion	3.0301 AU
Perihelion	2.5332 AU
Semi-major axis	2.7816 AU
Eccentricity	0.0893
Orbital period (sidereal)	4.64 yr (1,695 d)
Mean anomaly	325.09°
Mean motion	0° 12m 45s / day
Inclination	8.9010°
Longitude of ascending node	196.52°
Argument of perihelion	341.87°
Physical characteristics
Mean diameter	6.9 km (est. at 0.20)[4]
Geometric albedo	0.20 (family estimate)
Absolute magnitude (H)	13.2[2]

Orbit and classification

Inselsberg is a member of the Gefion family (516),^[3] a large intermediate belt family, named after 1272 Gefion^[5] It orbits the Sun in the central asteroid belt at a distance of 2.5–3.0 AU once every 4 years and 8 months (1,695 days; semi-major axis of 2.78 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.09 and an inclination of 9° with respect to the ecliptic.^[2] The body's observation arc begins with a precovery taken at Palomar Observatory in May 1954, or 6 years prior to its official discovery observation.^[1]

Palomar–Leiden survey

The survey designation "P-L" stands for Palomar–Leiden, named after Palomar Observatory and Leiden Observatory, which collaborated on the fruitful Palomar–Leiden survey in the 1960s. Gehrels used Palomar's Samuel Oschin telescope (also known as the 48-inch Schmidt Telescope), and shipped the photographic plates to Ingrid and Cornelis van Houten at Leiden Observatory where astrometry was carried out. The trio are credited with the discovery of several thousand asteroid discoveries.^[6]

Physical characteristics

As a member of the Gefion family, Inselsberg is likely a stony S-type asteroid.^[5]: 23 It has an absolute magnitude of 13.2.^[2] As of 2018, no rotational lightcurve of Inselsberg has been obtained from photometric observations. The body's rotation period, pole and shape remain unknown.^[2]

Diameter and albedo

Based on a generic magnitude-to-diameter conversion, Inselsberg measures 6.9 kilometers in diameter for an assumed stony albedo of 0.20, derived from the Gefion family's standard albedo, and a measured absolute magnitude of 13.2. According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Inselsberg measures kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo.^[4]

Naming

This minor planet was named after Großer Inselsberg, a mountain with an altitude of 916.5 m (3,007 ft) located in the Thuringian Forest in Thuringia, Germany.^[1] The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 1 May 2003 (M.P.C. 48390).^[7]