1982 Cline

1982 Cline, provisional designation Template:Mp, is a stony asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 8 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 4 November 1975, by American astronomer Eleanor Helin at Palomar Observatory in California, and named after Edwin Lee Cline, inventor and friend of the discoverer.<ref name="springer" /><ref name="MPC-Cline" />

Classification and orbit

Cline is a stony S-type asteroid that orbits the Sun in the inner main-belt at a distance of 1.7–2.9 AU once every 3 years and 6 months (1,283 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.25 and an inclination of 7° with respect to the ecliptic.<ref name="jpldata" /> As a main-belt asteroid with a perihelion of less than 1.74 AU, it is not far from being a Mars-crosser (1.67 AU).<ref name="jpldata" /> The first precovery was taken at Johannesburg Observatory (Hartbeespoort, 076) in 1957, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 18 years prior to its discovery.<ref name="MPC-Cline" />

Physical characteristics

The body's first and only rotational lightcurve of Cline was obtained by American astronomer James W. Birnsfield at the Via Capote Observatory Template:Obscode, California, in November 2011. It gave a well-defined rotation period of Template:Val hours with a brightness variation of 0.36 in magnitude (Template:Small).<ref name="Brinsfield-2011a" />

According to the survey carried out by the Japanese Akari satellite and the latest data from the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Cline measures 7.2 and 8.1 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.194 of 0.34, respectively.<ref name="AKARI" /><ref name="Masiero-2014" /> Previous results by WISE/NEOWISE also gave a diameter of 6.03 and 8.4 kilometers.<ref name="Masiero-2012" /><ref name="WISE" /> The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for stony asteroids of 0.20 and calculates a diameter of 8.18 kilometers with an absolute magnitude of 12.8.<ref name="lcdb" />

Naming

This minor planet was named in memory of Edwin Lee Cline, a friend of the discoverer and a known inventor in the automotive field who "looked to space as the new frontier".<ref name="springer" /> The official Template:MoMP was published by the Minor Planet Center on 18 April 1977 (Template:Small).<ref name="DoMP-Circular-dates" />

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:NeoDys
• Template:JPL small body