1298 Nocturna, provisional designation 1934 AE, is a dark asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 40 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 7 January 1934, by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth at the Heidelberg Observatory in southwest Germany.[12] The asteroid's name is the Feminine adjective of nocturnus, "nightly".[3]
Orbit and classification
Nocturna is a non-family asteroid of the main belt's background population. It orbits the Sun in the outer asteroid belt at a distance of 2.7–3.6 AU once every 5 years and 6 months (2,018 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.15 and an inclination of 5° with respect to the ecliptic.[1]
The asteroid was first identified as A904 RA at Heidelberg in September 1904. The body's observation arc begins 30 years later, with its official discovery observation at Heidelberg in 1934.[12]
In February 2006, a rotational lightcurve of Nocturna was obtained from photometric observations by French amateur astronomer René Roy. Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period of 34.80 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.11 magnitude (U=2).[10]Nocturna has a longer-than-average period, as most asteroids rotate within less than 20 hours once around their axis.
The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link derives an albedo of 0.0441 and a diameter of 39.93 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 11.0.[4]
Naming
This minor planet was named "Nocturna" after the feminine adjective of nocturnus which means "nightly". The name was proposed by German astronomer Gustave Stracke after whom an entire sequence of asteroids, (1227) to (1234), had been named indirectly. The official naming citation was mentioned in The Names of the Minor Planets by Paul Herget in 1955 (H 119).[3]
