Asteroid 1318 Nerina


1318 Nerina is a main belt asteroid with an estimated diameter of about 20 km. It was discovered on March 24, 1934 by C. Jackson at Johannesburg. The semi-major axis is 2.29 AU, the eccentricity is 0.203 and the inclination is 24.65 degrees.

I first observed this asteroid on two consecutive nights in February 2004. A third night of data was obtained 9 nights later under adverse conditions, and although noisy, this data supported the somewhat asymmetric lightcurve observed on the first two nights. The derived period was about 2.536 hours.



Lightcurve results for 1318 Nerina. Derived period 2.536 ± 0.001 hours. Amplitude of 0.16 ± 0.02 magnitude.

Further observations were obtained over 12 nights between February and May, 2011. This data supported the 2004 results with the period being determined to be 2.52765 hours and the lightcurve being somewhat asymmetric.



Lightcurve results for 1318 Nerina. Derived period 2.52765 ± 0.001 hours. Amplitude of 0.12 ± 0.01 magnitude.

I also attempted to observe the asteroid in 2012 for shape modelling, however on this occassion poor weather prevented me from obtaining any useful data.