1280 Baillauda, provisional designation 1933 QB, is a dark background asteroid from the outermost region of the asteroid belt, approximately 52 kilometers in diameter. Discovered by Eugène Delporte at Uccle Observatory in 1933, the asteroid was named after French astronomer Jules Baillaud.[9]
The asteroid was first identified as A912 GB at Heidelberg Observatory in April 1912. The body's observation arc begins with its official discovery observation at Uccle in August 1933.[9]
In August 1990, a rotational lightcurve of Baillauda was obtained from photometric observations by Swedish astronomer Claes-Ingvar Lagerkvist in a collaboration with other European astronomers. The observations were taken with the 1.5-meter telescope at the Loiano Observatory in Italy (598). Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period of 12.6 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.25 magnitude (U=2).[7]
Diameter and albedo
According to the surveys carried out by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite IRAS and the Japanese Akari satellite, Baillauda measures 50.83 and 53.97 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.0505 and 0.045, respectively.[5][6] The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link adopts the results obtained by IRAS, that is an albedo of 0.0505 and a diameter of 50.83 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 10.33.[3]
Naming
This minor planet was named after French astronomer Jules Baillaud (1876–1960), who led the Pic du Midi Observatory in the French Pyrenees (1937–1947), after his stay at the observatories at Paris and Lyons (513).[2] Jules was the son of prolific astronomer Benjamin Baillaud (1848–1934), after whom the lunar crater Baillaud was named.
^ 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)