1337 Gerarda, provisional designation 1934 RA1, is a dark background asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 40 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 9 September 1934, by Dutch astronomer Hendrik van Gent at the Union Observatory in Johannesburg, South Africa.[15] The asteroid was named after Gerarda Prins, the wife of an orbit computer at Leiden Observatory.[2]
In November 1984, a first rotational lightcurve of Gerarda was obtained from photometric observations by American astronomer Richard Binzel. Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period of 12.52 hours with a brightness variation of 0.23 magnitude (U=2).[13] A similar period of 12.462 with an identical amplitude of 0.23 was measured by astronomers at the Palomar Transient Factory in June 2012 (U=2).[12]
Diameter and albedo
According to the surveys carried out by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite IRAS, the Japanese Akari satellite and the NEOWISE mission of NASA's WISE telescope, Gerarda measures between 35.56 and 46.464 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo between 0.0297 and 0.0441.[5][6][7][8][9][10][11]
CALL derives an albedo of 0.0425 and a diameter of 38.84 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 11.10.[3]
Naming
This minor planet was named by Dutch astronomer Gerrit Pels, who computed this asteroid's orbit. It was named after Gerarda Prins, the wife of G. Prins, an orbit computer at Leiden Observatory.[2] The author of the Dictionary of Minor Planet Names, Lutz Schmadel, learned about the naming circumstances from Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld, who was herself a long-time staff member at the Leiden Observatory.[2]
^ abcdUsui, 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 Japan. 63 (5): 1117–1138. Bibcode:2011PASJ...63.1117U. doi:10.1093/pasj/63.5.1117. (online, AcuA catalog p. 153)