702 Alauda

702 Alauda /əˈlɔːdə/, provisional designation 1910 KQ, is a carbonaceous asteroid and binary system from the outer asteroid belt, approximately 190 kilometers in diameter.^[2] It is the parent body of the Alauda family. Discovered in 1910 by German astronomer Joseph Helffrich at Heidelberg Observatory, it was named after the lark (alauda).^[3][6] Its small moon, named Pichi üñëm, was discovered in 2007.^[10][21]

702 Alauda

702 Alauda as seen an hour after occulting TYC 1920-00620-1[1]
Discovery[2][3]
Discovered by	J. Helffrich
Discovery site	Heidelberg Obs.
Discovery date	1910
Designations
MPC designation	(702) Alauda
Pronunciation	/əˈlɔːdə/[4][5]
Named after	Alauda (genus of Birds)[6]
Alternative designations	1910 KQ
Minor planet category	main-belt · (outer)[7] Alauda[8]
Adjectives	Alaudian
Orbital characteristics[2]
Epoch 4 September 2017 (JD 2458000.5)
Uncertainty parameter 0
Observation arc	106.89 yr (39,040 days)
Aphelion	3.2533 AU
Perihelion	3.1372 AU
Semi-major axis	3.1953 AU
Eccentricity	0.0182
Orbital period (sidereal)	5.71 yr (2,086 days)
Mean anomaly	311.58°
Mean motion	0° 10m 21.36s / day
Inclination	20.589°
Longitude of ascending node	289.77°
Argument of perihelion	349.49°
Known satellites	1 (Pichi üñëm)[9][10]
Physical characteristics
Dimensions	163.98±57.99 km[11] 172.29±55.38 km[12] 175 km[13] 190.58±2.65 km[14] 190.980±1.973 km[15] 194.73±3.2 km[16] 201.961±4.642 km[17] 202±20 km[18]
Mass	(6.057±0.36)×1018 kg[19]
Mean density	1.57±0.5 g/cm3[19]
Synodic rotation period	8.3531 h (0.34805 d)[7]
Geometric albedo	0.0587±0.002[2]
Spectral type	C (Tholen)[2] B (SMASSII)[2]
Apparent magnitude	11.42 to 13.57[20]
Absolute magnitude (H)	7.25[2]

Satellite

Alauda's satellite Pichi üñëm, provisionally known as S/2007 (702) 1, was discovered on 26 July 2007 from observations using adaptive-optics imaging with the European Southern Observatory (ESO) 8-m Very Large Telescope (VLT) on Cerro Paranal, Chile.^[10] It is about 3.5 km in diameter (assuming it has the same albedo as the primary) and orbits Alauda in a nearly circular orbit at a distance of 1226.5±24 km. Pichi üñëm takes 4.91 days to complete one orbit.^[19][21][22] It was named Pichi üñëm (Mapudungun: [ˈpɪtʃi ɨˈɲɘm], approximately /ˈpɪtʃi ɪˈnjʌm/), meaning "little bird" in the Mapuche language of Chile, the country from which the moon was discovered.^[23]

Orbital characteristics

Alauda has been identified as the largest member of the Alauda family, a dynamical family of bright carbonaceous asteroids with more than a thousand known members.^[24]: 23 Other members of this family include: 581 Tauntonia, 1101 Clematis, 1838 Ursa, 3139 Shantou, 3325 TARDIS, 4368 Pillmore, 5360 Rozhdestvenskij, 5815 Shinsengumi, and many others.^[25] Alauda's moon may be a result of the collision that created the asteroid family.^[10]

Physical characteristics

The discovery and tracking of Alauda's moon enabled Alauda's mass to be determined. The discoverers of the moon, Patricio Rojo and Jean-Luc Margot, estimated Alauda's mass to be (6.057±0.36)×10¹⁸ kg and its density to be 1.57±0.5 g/cm³.^[19]

Occultations

Alauda has been observed to occult stars on several occasions, providing important information on its size and shape. It produced occultations on 2001-07-12 and 2004-04-21.^[26] It may have occulted an apparent magnitude 9.5 star in the constellation of Gemini on 2009-10-17 at 08:18 UT.^[1] This event should have been visible from Uruguay, Argentina, and Chile.^[1]