The body's observation arc begins with its first observations as 1933 FN at Heidelberg Observatory in March 1933, or 41 years prior to its official discovery observation at Nauchnij.[1]
In September 2007, a fragmentary rotational lightcurve of Maresjev was obtained from photometric observations by astronomers at the Oakley Observatory in the United States. Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period of 11.6 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.42 magnitude (U=1).[9] As of 2018, no secure period has been obtained.[3]
The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.0580 and calculates a diameter of 28.96 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 11.4.[3]
Naming
This minor planet was named after Alexey Maresyev (1916–2001), a Soviet war veteran and fighter ace. His story served as a basis for the novel Story about a True Man (also translated as Story of a Real Man) by Boris Polevoy, which became a popular Russian book that was eventually made into an opera. It was first published in English in 1952, and was reprinted in 1970.[1][10]
^ abcdNugent, C. R.; Mainzer, A.; Masiero, J.; Bauer, J.; Cutri, R. M.; Grav, T.; et al. (December 2015). "NEOWISE Reactivation Mission Year One: Preliminary Asteroid Diameters and Albedos". The Astrophysical Journal. 814 (2): 13. arXiv:1509.02522. Bibcode:2015ApJ...814..117N. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/814/2/117.
^ abcMasiero, Joseph R.; Mainzer, A. K.; Grav, T.; Bauer, J. M.; Cutri, R. M.; Dailey, J.; et al. (November 2011). "Main Belt Asteroids with WISE/NEOWISE. I. Preliminary Albedos and Diameters". The Astrophysical Journal. 741 (2): 20. arXiv:1109.4096. Bibcode:2011ApJ...741...68M. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/741/2/68.