Lightcurve results for 3731 Hancock. Derived period 6.712 hours. Amplitude 0.1 +/- 0.05 magnitude.
3731 Hancock is an outer main belt asteroid with an estimated diameter of about 15 km. It was discovered on February 20, 1984 at Perth Observatory, Perth, Western Australia. The semi-major axis is 3.22 AU, the eccentricity is 0.122 and the inclination is 21.53 degrees.
This asteroid has been quite frustrating. I first observed it on 2 nights during October and November 2005. This data was too noisy and sparse for any meaningful period to be derived.
I then observed the asteroid on six nights during August 2010. However the resulting lightcurve was extremely difficult to interpret. The lightcurve appeared to be very flat, with any variation little more than the noise. Two possible peroids were derived and are shown below. The first one has a period of 9.927 hours, while the second has a period of 19.871 hours. Both of these periods are very uncertain and much more work is required on this asteroid.
