This minor planet was named after Elisabeth Völk (born 1946), administrative staff member at ESO's headquarters in Germany, in charge of the ESO Schmidt plates archive, who became a good friend of the discoverer. The naming was independently suggested by astronomer and author of the Dictionary of Minor Planets, Lutz Schmadel.[2] The naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 15 February 1995 (M.P.C. 24766).[10]
In September 2015, a rotational lightcurve was constructed from photometric observations by Robert D. Stephens at the Center for Solar System Studies in California (U81). Lightcurve analysis gave a well-defined rotation period of 2.896±0.001 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.18±0.02 in magnitude (U=3).[8][a]
Diameter
According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, the asteroid measures (3.982±0.156) kilometers in diameter and its surface has an outstandingly high albedo of (0.443±0.079),[7] while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.24 – in accordance with the LCDB's divergent classification into the Flora family – and calculates a larger diameter of 5.2 kilometers.[11]
Notes
^ abLightcurve plot of (6189) Völk by Robert Stephens at the Center for Solar System Studies (2015). Rotation period of (2.896±0.001) hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.18±0.02 mag. Quality code of 3. Summary figures at the LCDB and CS3 web pages.