1060 Magnolia

1060 Magnolia, provisional designation 1925 PA, is a stony Florian asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 7 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 13 August 1925, by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory.^[18] The asteroid was named after the flowering plant magnolia.^[3]

1060 Magnolia

Discovery[1]
Discovered by	K. Reinmuth
Discovery site	Heidelberg Obs.
Discovery date	13 August 1925
Designations
MPC designation	(1060) Magnolia
Pronunciation	/mæɡˈnoʊliə/[2]
Named after	Magnolia (flowering plant)[3]
Alternative designations	1925 PA · 1945 OA
Minor planet category	main-belt · (inner) Flora[4][5]
Orbital characteristics[1]
Epoch 4 September 2017 (JD 2458000.5)
Uncertainty parameter 0
Observation arc	92.29 yr (33,709 days)
Aphelion	2.6902 AU
Perihelion	1.7844 AU
Semi-major axis	2.2373 AU
Eccentricity	0.2024
Orbital period (sidereal)	3.35 yr (1,222 days)
Mean anomaly	192.34°
Mean motion	0° 17m 40.2s / day
Inclination	5.9191°
Longitude of ascending node	221.13°
Argument of perihelion	84.766°
Physical characteristics
Dimensions	5.23±0.58 km[6] 6.844±0.056 km[7] 7.110±0.117 km[8] 7.16 km[9] 9.65±0.60 km[10]
Synodic rotation period	2.78±0.05 h[11] 2.910±0.001 h[12] 2.9107±0.0001 h[13] 2.9108±0.0005 h[14] 2.911±0.0008 h[15] 3.08±0.01 h[16]
Geometric albedo	0.173±0.034[10] 0.2839[9] 0.2922±0.0328[8] 0.47±0.13[6]
Spectral type	S[4][17]
Absolute magnitude (H)	12.07±0.89[17] · 12.264±0.002 (R)[15] · 12.60[10] · 12.7[1][8] · 12.71[4] · 12.71±0.06[9][11] · 12.97[6]

Orbit and classification

Magnolia is a member of the Flora family (402),^[4][5] a giant asteroid family and the largest family of stony asteroids in the main-belt.^[19]: 23 It orbits the Sun in the inner asteroid belt at a distance of 1.8–2.7 AU once every 3 years and 4 months (1,222 days; semi-major axis of 2.24 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.20 and an inclination of 6° with respect to the ecliptic.^[1]

The body's observation arc begins at Heidelberg in September 1925, or one month after its official discovery observation.^[18]

Physical characteristics

Pan-STARRS' photometric survey characterizes Magnolia as a common, stony S-type asteroid,^[17] which is also the overall spectral type for members of the Flora family.^[19]: 23

Rotation period

Several rotational lightcurves of Magnolia have been obtained from photometric observations since 1992.^{[11][12][13][14][15][16]} The best-rated lightcurve by French amateur astronomers Jacques Michelet and Maurice Audejean gave a relatively short rotation period of 2.9107 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.14 magnitude (U=3).^[4][13]

Diameter and albedo

According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), Magnolia measures between 5.23 and 9.65 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo between 0.173 and 0.47.^{[6][7][8][9][10]}

The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link adopts Petr Pravec's revised WISE results, that is, an albedo of 0.2839 and a diameter of 7.16 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 12.71.^[4][9]

Naming

This minor planet was named after a genus of flowering plants, magnolia, which was in turn named after Pierre Magnol. The official naming citation was mentioned in The Names of the Minor Planets by Paul Herget in 1955 (H 101).^[3]

Reinmuth's flowers

Due to his many discoveries, Karl Reinmuth submitted a large list of 66 newly named asteroids in the early 1930s. The list covered his discoveries with numbers between (1009) and (1200). This list also contained a sequence of 28 asteroids, starting with 1054 Forsytia, that were all named after plants, in particular flowering plants (also see list of minor planets named after animals and plants).^[20]