1467 Mashona, provisional designation 1938 OE, is a rare-type carbonaceous asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 100 kilometers in diameter, making it one of the top 200 largest asteroids currently known to exist. It was discovered on 30 July 1938, by South African astronomer Cyril Jackson at the Johannesburg Observatory in South Africa.[11] It was later named after the native Shona people of Zimbabwe.[2]
In February 1923, it was first identified as 1923 CB at Heidelberg Observatory in Germany. The body's observation arc begins at Johannesburg, 5 days after its official discovery observation.[11]
Mashona was the highest numbered asteroid used in calculating the future orbit of 101955 Bennu.[13]
Until April 2010, three rotational lightcurves of Mashona have been obtained from photometric observations. Lightcurve analysis gave a well-defined rotation period between 9.74 and 9.76 hours with a brightness amplitude varying from 0.24 to 0.31 magnitude (U=3/2/3).[8][9][10]
Diameter and albedo
According to the surveys carried out by the Japanese Akari satellite and NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Mashona measures between 89.160 and 104.119 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo between 0.05 and 0.083.[3][4][5][6] The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for carbonaceous asteroids of 0.057 and calculates a diameter of 107.54 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 8.57.[7] Among nearly half a million asteroids, Mashona belongs to the 200 largest bodies.[14]