1016 Anitra, provisional designation 1924 QG, is a stony Florian asteroid and suspected asynchronous binary system from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 10 kilometers in diameter.
It orbits the Sun in the inner main-belt at a distance of 1.9–2.5 AU once every 3 years and 4 months (1,208 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.13 and an inclination of 6° with respect to the ecliptic.[1] The asteroid's observation arc begins at Heidelberg, 12 days after to its official discovery observation.[15]
In November 2015, a rotational lightcurve of Anitra was obtained from photometric observations by an international collaborations of astronomers who combined their observational results. Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period of 5.92951 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.30 magnitude (U=3).[6]
Binary system
Anitra is a suspected asynchronous binary asteroid, a system with a fairly large separation, for which tidal forces have been insufficient to synchronize the periods within the system's lifetime.[5][6] The likely minor-planet moon has a rotation period of 2.609 hours and is thought to orbit its primary every 240 hours. The results, however, are still tentative.[3] More than 100 known binaries from the asteroid belt have already been discovered.
Diameter and albedo
According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Anitra measures 9.539 and 10.302 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.2728 and 0.308, respectively.[7][8]
The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for stony S-type asteroids of 0.20 and calculates a diameter of 12.97 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 11.8.[3]
Naming
This minor planet was probably named after the Arabian dancer Anitra, daughter of a Bedouin chief in Henrik Ibsen's drama Peer Gynt, a five-act play in verse. The music was composed by Edvard Grieg who named one piece "Anitra's Dance".[2] The minor planets (4872) and (5696) are named after Grieg and Ibsen, respectively.[2]