844 Leontina, provisional designation 1916 AP, is a stony asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, about 36 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 1 October 1916, by Austrian astronomer Joseph Rheden at Vienna Observatory, Austria.
Description
Leontina is an X-type asteroid in the SMASS classification. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 3.0–3.4 AU once every 5 years and 9 months (2,097 days). Its orbit is tilted by 9 degrees to the plane of the ecliptic and shows an eccentricity of 0.07.
Multiple lightcurve analysis rendered a well-defined, concurring rotation period of 6.79 hours. According to the surveys carried out by the Japanese Akari satellite and the U.S. Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, measurements of the body's brightness gave a divergent albedo of 0.13, 0.20 and 0.31, respectively. As a result, the asteroid's estimated diameter strongly varies between 28 and 40 kilometers. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link (CALL) considers Akari's albedo-figure of 0.20 the most accurate one and consequently assumes the otherwise classified X-type body to be of a stony surface composition with a calculated diameter of 36 kilometers.
This minor planet was named by the discoverer for his home town Lienz in East Tyrol, Austria.
References (online, AcuA catalog p. 153)
External links The Asteroid Veritas: An intruder in a family named after it? Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB), query form (info ) 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