1264 Letaba, provisional designation 1933 HG, is a carbonaceous asteroid and possible tumbler from the background population of the outer asteroid belt, approximately 70 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 21 April 1933, by South African astronomer Cyril Jackson at the Union Observatory in Johannesburg.[18] The asteroid was named for the Letaba River in eastern South Africa.[2]
Letaba is a non-family asteroid of the main belt's background population.[4] It orbits the Sun in the outer asteroid belt at a distance of 2.4–3.3 AU once every 4 years and 10 months (1,773 days; semi-major axis of 2.87 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.15 and an inclination of 25° with respect to the ecliptic.[1]
The asteroid was first identified as 1930 WC at Simeiz Observatory in November 1930. The body's observation arc begins at Johannesburg, the night before its official discovery observation.[18]
Several rotational lightcurves of Letaba have been obtained from photometric observations since 2002.[12][13][15][16] The best-rated lightcurve was measured by the Spanish amateur astronomer group OBAS in July 2016. It gave a longer-than average rotation period of 32.74 hours with a brightness variation of 0.28 magnitude ({{{1}}}).[14] It might be a tumbler due to the lightcurve's inconsistent slope segments (T?).[3][16] Based on its current diameter estimate, Letaba would be the second-largest tumbler just behind the Hildian asteroid 1512 Oulu (see List of tumblers).
The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link derives an albedo of 0.0462 and a diameter of 74.35 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 9.6.[3]
Naming
This minor planet was named after the Letaba River, located in eastern South Africa. The official naming citation was mentioned in The Names of the Minor Planets by Paul Herget in 1955 (H 116).[2]
↑ 5.05.15.2Masiero, Joseph R.; Grav, T.; Mainzer, A. K.; Nugent, C. R.; Bauer, J. M.; Stevenson, R. et al. (August 2014). "Main-belt Asteroids with WISE/NEOWISE: Near-infrared Albedos". The Astrophysical Journal791 (2): 11. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/791/2/121. Bibcode: 2014ApJ...791..121M.
↑ 6.06.16.26.3Nugent, C. R.; Mainzer, A.; Bauer, J.; Cutri, R. M.; Kramer, E. A.; Grav, T. et al. (September 2016). "NEOWISE Reactivation Mission Year Two: Asteroid Diameters and Albedos". The Astronomical Journal152 (3): 12. doi:10.3847/0004-6256/152/3/63. Bibcode: 2016AJ....152...63N.
↑ 8.08.18.28.3Masiero, Joseph R.; Nugent, C.; Mainzer, A. K.; Wright, E. L.; Bauer, J. M.; Cutri, R. M. et al. (October 2017). "NEOWISE Reactivation Mission Year Three: Asteroid Diameters and Albedos". The Astronomical Journal154 (4): 10. doi:10.3847/1538-3881/aa89ec. Bibcode: 2017AJ....154..168M.
↑ 9.09.19.29.3Usui, Fumihiko; Kuroda, Daisuke; Müller, Thomas G.; Hasegawa, Sunao; Ishiguro, Masateru; Ootsubo, Takafumi et al. (October 2011). "Asteroid Catalog Using Akari: AKARI/IRC Mid-Infrared Asteroid Survey". Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan63 (5): 1117–1138. doi:10.1093/pasj/63.5.1117. Bibcode: 2011PASJ...63.1117U. (online, AcuA catalog p. 153)
↑ 10.010.110.210.3Mainzer, A.; Grav, T.; Masiero, J.; Hand, E.; Bauer, J.; Tholen, D. et al. (November 2011). "NEOWISE Studies of Spectrophotometrically Classified Asteroids: Preliminary Results". The Astrophysical Journal741 (2): 25. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/741/2/90. Bibcode: 2011ApJ...741...90M.