19. Finding the rotational period of minor planet 10 Hygiea using the ALCDEF database
This tutorial contains step-by-step instructions for importing asteroid light curve data from the ALCDEF Asteroid Lightcurve Photometry Database. We will import observations of the large main-belt asteroid 10 Hygiea, acquired with the TRAPPIST robotic telescopes. We then proceed with finding the rotational period of this asteroid. The rotational period was accurately determined by Marin Ferrais et. al. from the University of Liege (Belgium) and published in The Minor Planet Bulletin, Vol 48, Nr 2, 2021 April-June, pag 166-167. Using Peranso, they found a value of 13.8224 +/- 0.0005 h, based on more than 9000 observations split in 13 photometric series, obtained between 2018, Sep 11th and 2018, Oct 18th. |