Villigera is a Mars-crossing asteroid, a dynamically unstable group between the main belt and the near-Earth populations, crossing the orbit of Mars at 1.666 AU. It orbits the Sun in the inner main-belt at a distance of 1.5–3.2 AU once every 3 years and 8 months (1,352 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.36 and an inclination of 21° with respect to the ecliptic.[1] No precoveries were taken, and no prior identifications were made. The body's observation arc begins 10 days after its official discovery observation with its first used observation at Uccle Observatory.[3]
In October 2001, a first rotational lightcurve of Villigera was obtained by astronomer Robert Koff at Thornton Observatory (713) in Colorado. Light curve analysis gave a well-defined rotation period of 7.830 hours with a brightness variation of 0.39 magnitude (U=3).[6][a]
Photometric observations by astronomers René Roy, Raoul Behrend and Pierre Antonini in February 2006, gave a concurring period of 7.834 hours and an amplitude of 0.36 magnitude (U=3).[8] In 2016, a modeled lightcurves using photometric data from various sources, rendered an identical period of 7.830 and a spin axis of (3.0°, 63°) in ecliptic coordinates.[7]
Diameter and albedo
According to the survey carried out by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Villigera measures 13.76 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.245.[5] The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for stony asteroids of 0.20 and calculates a diameter of 15.24 kilometers, with an absolute magnitude of 11.45.[4] Based on a generic magnitude-to-diameter conversion, Villigera measures between 13 and 30 kilometers for an albedo in the range of 0.05 to 0.25.[9]
^ abHanus, J.; Durech, J.; Oszkiewicz, D. A.; Behrend, R.; Carry, B.; Delbo, M.; et al. (February 2016). "New and updated convex shape models of asteroids based on optical data from a large collaboration network". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 586: 24. arXiv:1510.07422. Bibcode:2016A&A...586A.108H. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201527441.