5175 Ables

5175 Ables

Discovery
Discovered by	C. S. Shoemaker E. M. Shoemaker
Discovery site	Palomar Obs.
Discovery date	4 November 1988
Designations
MPC designation	5175 Ables
Named after	Harold Ables (astronomer)
Alternative names	1988 VS4 · 1990 KH
Minor planet category	main-belt (inner) · Hungaria
Orbital characteristics
Epoch 27 June 2015 (JD 2457200.5)
Uncertainty parameter 0
Observation arc	61.52 yr (22,472 days)
Aphelion	2.0430 AU
Perihelion	1.8911 AU
Semi-major axis	1.9671 AU
Eccentricity	0.0386
Orbital period	2.76 yr (1,008 days)
Mean anomaly	84.093°
Inclination	16.844°
Longitude of ascending node	234.52°
Argument of perihelion	313.69°
Physical characteristics
Dimensions	5.697±0.024 km 4.29±0.23 km 5.31 km (calculated)
Rotation period	2.798±0.002 h 2.7976±0.0005 h
Geometric albedo	0.2897±0.0604 0.505±0.074 0.30 (assumed)
Spectral type	E
Absolute magnitude (H)	13.3

5175 Ables, provisional designation 1988 VS₄, is a bright, stony asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, about 5 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by American astronomers Carolyn and Eugene Shoemaker at the U.S. Palomar Observatory, California, on 4 November 1988.

The bright E-type asteroid is a member of the Hungaria family, which form the innermost dense concentration of asteroids in the Solar System. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 1.9–2.0 AU once every 2 years and 9 months (1,008 days). Its orbit shows an eccentricity of 0.04 and is tilted by 17 degrees to the plane of the ecliptic.

Between 2010 and 2014, several photometric light-curve analysis at the U.S. Palmer Divide Station in Colorado, have given a well-defined rotation period of 2.798 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.10 in magnitude. Based on the surveys carried out by the U.S. Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer and its subsequent NEOWISE mission, the asteroid has an albedo of 0.29 and 0.51, with a corresponding diameter of 5.7 and 4.3 kilometers, respectively, while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link (CALL) assumes an albedo of 0.30 and calculates a diameter of 5.3 kilometers.

The minor planet was named in honor of American astronomer Harold D. Ables (b. 1938), former director at the United States Naval Observatory Flagstaff Station (NOFS). He led the Flagstaff Station in its development of CCD capabilities for astrometry and spearheaded the transition from photographic to CCD techniques in parallax determinations. The name was proposed by the discoverers following a suggestion by the JPL Ephemeris Group.

External links

• Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB), query form (info)
• Dictionary of Minor Planet Names, Google books
• Asteroids and comets rotation curves, CdR – Observatoire de Genève, Raoul Behrend
• Discovery Circumstances: Numbered Minor Planets (5001)-(10000) – Minor Planet Center
• 5175 Ables at the JPL Small-Body Database

• Discovery · Orbit diagram · Orbital elements · Physical parameters