1633 Chimay
Themistian asteroid
1633 Chimay, provisional designation 1929 EC, is a Themistian asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 37 kilometers in diameter.
It was discovered on 3 March 1929, by Belgian astronomer Sylvain Arend at the Royal Observatory of Belgium in Uccle. Five nights later, the body was independently discovered by Max Wolf at Heidelberg Observatory in southern Germany. It was later named for the Belgian town of Chimay.
01Classification and orbit
Chimay is a member of the Themis family, a dynamical family of asteroids with nearly coplanar ecliptical orbits. It orbits the Sun in the outer main-belt at a distance of 2.8-3.6 AU once every 5 years and 9 months (2,085 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.12 and an inclination of 3° with respect to the ecliptic. Chimay was first identified as A917 BB at Heidelberg in 1917, extending the body's observation arc by 12 years prior to its official discovery observation.
02Physical characteristics
Several rotational lightcurves were obtained from photometric observations. Lightcurve analysis gave a well-defined, concurring rotation period of 6.58-6.63 hours with a brightness variation between 0.31 and 0.58 magnitude (U=3/3-/2).
According to the surveys carried out by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite IRAS, the Japanese Akari satellite, and the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Chimay measures between 36.1 and 37.7 kilometers in diameter, and its surface has a low albedo between 0.079 and 0.089. In accordance with the space-based surveys, the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link (CALL) derives an albedo of 0.078, and calculates a diameter of 36.1 kilometers. CALL also classifies Chimay as a S-type rather than a carbonaceous C-type asteroid.
03Naming
This minor planet was named after the Belgian town Chimay, home of the discoverer, who also co-discovered Comet Arend-Roland. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 20 February 1976 (M.P.C. 3931).
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “1633 Chimay”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- 1633Chimay (Lightcurve Inversion).png by Astronomical Institute of the Charles University: Josef Ďurech, Vojtěch Sidorin, CC BY 4.0
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