Abstract
This paper presents the results of polarization observations of asteroid 554 Peraga obtained with the UBVRI polarimeter using the 1.25 m telescope of the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory down to phase angles of 3.1°–16.6° from October to November 2006. The asteroid’s polarization phase curve is shown to have a negative branch with the parameters P min = −1.7% and αmin = 8.4°, which is typical of C-type asteroids. However, these data contradict the results of Zellner and Gradie (1976) obtained in March 1975 that the reflected light from the asteroid’s surface is positively polarized, ≈1% at phase angles of 8°–10°. Since the asteroid’s ecliptic longitudes differ by 160°-145° for the two observation periods, we discuss the possibility that the two sets of observations refer to the asteroid’s two hemispheres with different polarimetric properties.
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Original Russian Text © K.A. Antonyuk, N.N. Kiselev, 2012, published in Astronomicheskii Vestnik, 2012, Vol. 46, No. 1, pp. 58–60.
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Antonyuk, K.A., Kiselev, N.N. 554 Peraga—an asteroid with unusual polarization properties?. Sol Syst Res 46, 54–56 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0038094611060013
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0038094611060013