183 Istria

183 Istria is a stony background asteroid from the central regions of the asteroid belt, approximately Template:Convert in diameter. It was discovered on 8 February 1878, by Austrian astronomer Johann Palisa at the Austrian Naval Observatory in Pola, in what is now Croatia.<ref name="MPC-object" /> The S-type asteroid has a rotation period of 11.77 hours.<ref name="lcdb" /> It was named for the Istrian Peninsula.<ref name="springer" />

Orbit and classification

Istria is a non-family asteroid from the main belt's background population.<ref name="Ferret" /><ref name="AstDys-object" /> It orbits the Sun in the central main-belt at a distance of 1.8–3.8 AU once every 4 years and 8 months (1,703 days; semi-major axis of 2.79 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.35 and an inclination of 26° with respect to the ecliptic.<ref name="jpldata" />

Physical characteristics

Istria has been characterized as a common, stony S-type asteroid in both the Tholen and SMASS classification.<ref name="jpldata" />

Rotation period

In August 1979, a rotational lightcurve of Istria was obtained from photometric observations by American astronomer Alain Harris. Lightcurve analysis gave a well-defined rotation period of 11.77 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.31 magnitude (Template:Small).<ref name="Harris-1983a" /> Observations by French amateur astronomer Laurent Bernasconi gave a similar period of 11.6 hours (Template:Small).<ref name="geneva-obs" />

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 Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Istria measures between 30.779 and 35.43 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo between 0.1890 and 0.2582.<ref name="WISE" /><ref name="Masiero-2014" /><ref name="AKARI" /><ref name="SIMPS" />

Naming

This minor planet was named after the Istrian Peninsula in the Adriatic Sea, where the city of Pula (then Pola) with its discovering observatory is located. A the time the peninsula was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The asteroid's name was given by Vice-Admiral Bernhard von Wüllerstorf-Urbair, who is known as the captain of the first Austrian circumnavigatory adventure with the sail frigate SMS Novara.<ref name="springer" /> The official naming citation was mentioned in The Names of the Minor Planets by Paul Herget in 1955 (Template:Small).<ref name="springer" />

External links

• Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB), query form (info Template:Webarchive)
• Dictionary of Minor Planet Names, Google books
• Asteroids and comets rotation curves, CdR – Observatoire de Genève, Raoul Behrend
• Discovery Circumstances: Numbered Minor Planets (1)-(5000) – Minor Planet Center
• Template:AstDys
• Template:JPL small body