2865 Laurel

2865 Laurel, provisional designation Template:Mp, is a stony Marian asteroid from the middle region of the asteroid belt, approximately 15 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by English-born South African astronomer Cyril Jackson at Johannesburg Observatory on 31 July 1935.<ref name="MPC-Laurel" /> The asteroid was named after movie comedian Stan Laurel.<ref name="springer" />

Orbit and classification

Laurel orbits the Sun in the central main-belt at a distance of 2.4–2.7 AU once every 4 years and 1 month (1,497 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.07 and an inclination of 14° with respect to the ecliptic.<ref name="jpldata" /> No precoveries were taken and the asteroid's observation arc begins with its discovery observation in 1935.<ref name="MPC-Laurel" />

Physical characteristics

Laurel has been characterized as a common S-type asteroid by PanSTARRSTemplate:' photometric survey.<ref name="Veres-2015" />

Rotation period

A rotational lightcurve for this asteroid was obtained from photometric observations by French amateur astronomer Pierre Antonini in September 2005. It gave a longer than average rotation period of Template:Val hours with a brightness variation of 0.15 in magnitude (Template:Small).<ref name="geneva-obs" />

Diameter and albedo

According to the space-based surveys carried out by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite IRAS, the Japanese Akari satellite, and NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, the asteroid measures between 14.7 and 25.0 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo between 0.09 and 0.22.<ref name="SIMPS" /><ref name="AKARI" /><ref name="Masiero-2012" /> The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link agrees with IRAS and derives an albedo of 0.24 and a diameter 14.8 kilometers.<ref name="lcdb" />

Naming

This minor planet was named after English-born slapstick film comedian Stan Laurel (1890–1965). Together with Oliver Hardy (1892–1957), who was honored with the main-belt asteroid 2866 Hardy, they formed the first great comedy duo in Classical Hollywood cinema.<ref name="springer" /> The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 1 September 1993 (Template:Small),<ref name="MPC-Circulars-Archive" /> based on a suggestion by Gareth V. Williams and others.<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