6189 Völk

6189 Völk (prov. designation: 1989 EY₂) is a stony Vesta asteroid, approximately 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) in diameter, located in the inner regions of the asteroid belt. It was discovered on 2 March 1989, by Belgian astronomer Eric Elst at the La Silla Observatory in northern Chile.^[1] The S-type asteroid has a short rotation period of 2.9 hours. It was named for Elisabeth Völk, a staff member at ESO headquarters in Germany.^[2]

6189 Völk

Discovery[1]
Discovered by	E. W. Elst
Discovery site	La Silla Obs.
Discovery date	2 March 1989
Designations
MPC designation	(6189) Völk
Named after	Elisabeth Völk (ESO staff member)[2]
Alternative designations	1989 EY2 · 1980 TY4 5489 T-2
Minor planet category	main-belt[1][3] · (inner) Vesta[4][5][6]
Orbital characteristics[3]
Epoch 31 May 2020 (JD 2459000.5)
Uncertainty parameter 0
Observation arc	46.34 yr (16,926 d)
Aphelion	2.6157 AU
Perihelion	1.9938 AU
Semi-major axis	2.3048 AU
Eccentricity	0.1349
Orbital period (sidereal)	3.50 yr (1,278 d)
Mean anomaly	164.96°
Mean motion	0° 16m 54.12s / day
Inclination	5.9423°
Longitude of ascending node	245.32°
Argument of perihelion	68.736°
Physical characteristics
Mean diameter	3.982±0.156 km[7]
Synodic rotation period	2.896±0.001 h[8][a]
Geometric albedo	0.443±0.079[7]
Spectral type	S (SDSS-MOC)[9]
Absolute magnitude (H)	13.50[7] 13.6[1][3]

Classification and orbit

When applying the synthetic hierarchical clustering method to its proper orbital elements, Völk is a core member of the stony Vesta family,^[4][5][6] one of the largest families in the inner asteroid belt. It orbits the Sun in the inner main-belt at a distance of 2.0–2.6 AU once every 3 years and 6 months (1,278 days; semi-major axis of 2.3 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.13 and an inclination of 6° with respect to the ecliptic.^[3] It was first observed as 5489 T-2 at Palomar Observatory during the second Palomar–Leiden Trojan survey in September 1973, extending the asteroid's observation arc by almost 16 years prior to its official discovery at La Silla.^[1]

Naming

This minor planet was named after Elisabeth Völk (born 1946), administrative staff member at ESO's headquarters in Germany, in charge of the ESO Schmidt plates archive, who became a good friend of the discoverer. The naming was independently suggested by astronomer and author of the Dictionary of Minor Planets, Lutz Schmadel.^[2] The naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 15 February 1995 (M.P.C. 24766).^[10]

Physical characteristics

In the SDSS-based taxonomy, Völk is a common, stony S-type asteroid.^[9]

Lightcurve

In September 2015, a rotational lightcurve was constructed from photometric observations by Robert D. Stephens at the Center for Solar System Studies in California (U81). Lightcurve analysis gave a well-defined rotation period of 2.896±0.001 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.18±0.02 in magnitude (U=3).^[8][a]

Diameter

According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, the asteroid measures (3.982±0.156) kilometers in diameter and its surface has an outstandingly high albedo of (0.443±0.079),^[7] while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.24 – in accordance with the LCDB's divergent classification into the Flora family – and calculates a larger diameter of 5.2 kilometers.^[11]

Notes

1. Lightcurve plot of (6189) Völk by Robert Stephens at the Center for Solar System Studies (2015). Rotation period of (2.896±0.001) hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.18±0.02 mag. Quality code of 3. Summary figures at the LCDB and CS3 web pages.