1305 Pongola


1305 Pongola, provisional designation, is a background asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 25 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 19 July 1928, by English astronomer Harry Edwin Wood at the Union Observatory in Johannesburg, South Africa. The asteroid was named for the South African Pongola River.

Orbit and classification

Pongola is a non-family asteroid from the main belt's background population. It orbits the Sun in the outer asteroid belt at a distance of 2.8–3.2 AU once every 5 years and 3 months. Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.07 and an inclination of 2° with respect to the ecliptic.
The body's observation arc begins with its first observation as at Heidelberg Observatory in March 1927, or 16 months prior to its official discovery observation at Johannesburg.

Physical characteristics

Pongola is a suspected carbonaceous C-type asteroid. The space-based survey gave an albedo that is not in-line with a carbonaceous spectral type.

Rotation period

Several rotational lightcurve of Pongola have been obtained from photometric observations since 1984. Analysis of the best-rated lightcurve gave a rotation period of 8.335 hours and a consolidated brightness amplitude between 0.14 and 0.19 magnitude.

Diameter and albedo

According to the surveys carried out by the Japanese Akari satellite and the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Pongola measures between 24.110 and 25.124 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo between 0.157 and 0.169.
The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a much lower standard albedo for carbonaceous asteroids of 0.057 and consequently derives a much larger diameter of 41.45 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 10.64.

Naming

This minor planet was named by the discoverer after the Pongola River in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The official naming citation was mentioned in The Names of the Minor Planets by Paul Herget in 1955.