2032 Ethel

2032 Ethel, provisional designation 1970 OH, is a dark background asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 36 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 30 July 1970, by Soviet astronomer Tamara Smirnova at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory in Nauchnyj, on the Crimean peninsula.^[6] The asteroid was named after Irish writer Ethel Voynich.^[2]

2032 Ethel

Discovery[1]
Discovered by	T. Smirnova
Discovery site	Crimean Astrophysical Obs.
Discovery date	30 July 1970
Designations
MPC designation	(2032) Ethel
Named after	Ethel Voynich (Irish writer)[2]
Alternative designations	1970 OH · 1952 DU 1960 WM · 1965 UG1 1971 UD3
Minor planet category	main-belt · (outer) background[3]
Orbital characteristics[1]
Epoch 4 September 2017 (JD 2458000.5)
Uncertainty parameter 0
Observation arc	65.18 yr (23,807 days)
Aphelion	3.4615 AU
Perihelion	2.6831 AU
Semi-major axis	3.0723 AU
Eccentricity	0.1267
Orbital period (sidereal)	5.39 yr (1,967 days)
Mean anomaly	269.94°
Mean motion	0° 10m 58.8s / day
Inclination	1.5097°
Longitude of ascending node	30.178°
Argument of perihelion	295.71°
Physical characteristics
Dimensions	36.007±0.105 km[4]
Geometric albedo	0.034±0.005[5]
Absolute magnitude (H)	11.4[1]

Orbit and classification

Ethel is a non-family asteroid of the main belt's background population.^[3] It orbits the Sun in the outer asteroid belt at a distance of 2.7–3.5 AU once every 5 years and 5 months (1,967 days; semi-major axis 3.07 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.13 and an inclination of 2° with respect to the ecliptic.^[1]

The body's observation arc begins with its identification as 1952 DU at Goethe Link Observatory in February 1952, more than 18 years prior to its official discovery observation Nauchnyj.^[6]

Physical characteristics

Diameter and albedo

According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Ethel measures 36.007 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.034.^[4][5]

Rotation period

As of 2017, no rotational lightcurve of Ethel has been obtained from photometric observations. The body's rotation period, poles and shape remain unknown.^[1][7]

Naming

This minor planet was named after Ethel Lilian Voynich (1864–1960), an Irish writer of the late Victorian epoch, best known for her novel The Gadfly.^[2] The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 1 September 1978 (M.P.C. 4482).^[8]