A first precovery was taken at Yerkes Observatory, extending the Algeria's observation arc by just 16 days prior to its official discovery observation.[13]
Orbit and classification
The dark asteroid orbits the Sun in the outer main-belt at a distance of 2.7–3.5 AU once every 5 years and 7 months (2,035 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.13 and an inclination of 13° with respect to the ecliptic.[1]
Physical characteristics
Lightcurve
A rotational lightcurve of Algeria was obtained from photometric observations made by French amateur astronomer Claudine Rinner in August 2002. Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period of 16 hours with a brightness variation of 0.19 magnitude (U=2).[11]
Diameter and albedo
According to the space-based surveys carried out by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite IRAS, the Japanese Akari satellite, and NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Algeria measures between 29.2 and 34.5 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo in the range of 0.057 to 0.093.[4][5][7][9][8][10]
The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link derives an albedo of 0.059 and a diameter of 33.1 kilometers with an absolute magnitude of 11.1, and characterizes it as a C-type asteroid.[3]
^ abcdUsui, Fumihiko; Kuroda, Daisuke; Müller, Thomas G.; Hasegawa, Sunao; Ishiguro, Masateru; Ootsubo, Takafumi; et al. (October 2011). "Asteroid Catalog Using Akari: AKARI/IRC Mid-Infrared Asteroid Survey". Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan. 63 (5): 1117–1138. Bibcode:2011PASJ...63.1117U. doi:10.1093/pasj/63.5.1117. (online, AcuA catalog p. 153)