THE HUNGARIA ASTEROID 4868 KNUSHEVIA: A POSSIBLE BINARY.

Abstract

CCD photometry observations of the Hungaria asteroid 4868 Knushevia were made in 2013 April-June at the Center for Solar System Studies. Analysis of the data indicates that the asteroid may be a binary with a primary period P₁ = 3.4122 ± 0.0001 h, A₁ = 0.05 ± 0.01 mag and a secondary period of P₂ = 11.922 ± 0.003 h with possible mutual events, i.e., occultations and/or eclipses, of about 0.02 mag depth. On that assumption, this leads to an estimated effective size ratio of D_S/D_P ≥ 0.13 ± 0.03, which fits well within a model of binary asteroids developed by Pravec et al. (2010).