[IAUC] CBET 2698: 20110414 : (3951) ZICHICHI

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                                                  Electronic Telegram No. 2698
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
CBAT Director:  Daniel W. E. Green; Hoffman Lab 209; Harvard University;
 20 Oxford St.; Cambridge, MA  02138; U.S.A.
e-mail:  cbatiau en eps.harvard.edu (alternate cbat en iau.org)
URL http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/index.html
Prepared using the Tamkin Foundation Computer Network


(3951) ZICHICHI
     P. Antonini, Bedoin, France; R. Behrend, Geneva Observatory; F. Colas and
J. Lecacheux, Paris Observatory; R. Goncalves, Linhaceira, Portugal; D.
Starkey, Auburn, IN, U.S.A.; F. Manzini, Sozzago, Italy; V. Reddy, University
of North Dakota; H. and H. Hamanowa, Motomiya, Fukushima, Japan; and R. Naves,
Barcelona, Spain, report that photometric observations obtained during 2006
Nov. 29 to 2007 Feb. 11 revealed that minor planet (3951) had a rotation
lightcurve with a period of 3.3944 hr and amplitude of 0.32 mag, to which
there were superimposed attenuations with depths of about 0.1 mag resembling
mutual events in a binary system -- but a unique solution for their period was
not obtained, so the binary nature of the asteroid was not unambiguously
established.

      M. Husarik, Z. Kanuchova, Z. Krisandova, and M. Pikler, Skalnate Pleso
Observatory; P. Pravec and P. Kusnirak, Ondrejov Observatory; J. Pollock,
Appalachian State University; R. Durkee, Shed of Science Observatory,
Minneapolis, MN, U.S.A.; J. Vilagi, S. Gajdos, A. Galad, and P. Veres, Modra
Observatory; and D. E. Reichart, K. M. Ivarsen, J. B. Haislip, and A.
LaCluyze, Physics and Astronomy Department, University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill, report that photometric observations obtained during 2011 Jan. 26
to Apr. 3 confirmed that minor planet (3951) is a binary system and estimated
an orbital period of 27.59 +/- 0.01 hr.  The primary shows a period of 3.39423
+/- 0.00007 hr, and it has a lightcurve amplitude of 0.26 mag.  Mutual
eclipse/occultation events that are 0.12- and 0.23-mag deep indicate a lower
limit on the secondary-to-primary mean-diameter ratio of 0.33.

      F. Marchis, J. E. Enriquez, and M. Allain, Carl Sagan Center at the
SETI Institute; and J. P. Emery, University of Tennessee at Knoxville, report
on integrated spectroscopic observations of the binary system (3951) recorded
from 2011 Apr. 1.276 to 1.353 UT with Infrared Telescope Facility's SPEX
instrument.  A solar analogue (SAO 97748) was observed before and after the
target to compute a final reflectance spectrum from 0.67 to 2.55 microns.
Following the Bus-DeMeo taxonomy, the near-infrared spectrum is typical of
S-type minor planets, characterized by moderate 1- and 2-micron absorption
band features.


NOTE: These 'Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams' are sometimes
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                         (C) Copyright 2011 CBAT
2011 April 14                    (CBET 2698)              Daniel W. E. Green