Abstract
REMARKABLY few determinations have been made of the diameters and albedos of the minor planets. The figures usually quoted1 were obtained seventy years ago by Barnard2 using a filar micrometer on the 36-inch Lick and 40-inch Yerkes refractors. He was measuring disks a few tenths of a second of arc across, not much larger than the theoretical resolving power of these instruments, yet quoted on one occasion an estimated accuracy of ± 6 per cent. It is on the basis of these measurements that the albedos and diameters of all smaller asteroids have been estimated. Clearly better observations are needed. Kuiper measured a dozen minor planets in the 1950s using the 82-inch McDonald reflector but has not published the results.
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References
Allen, C. W., Astrophysical Quantities, 153 (Athlone Press, 1955).
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Groeneveld, I., and Kuiper, G. P., Astrophys. J., 120, 200 (1954).
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ALLEN, D. Infrared Diameter of Vesta. Nature 227, 158–159 (1970). https://doi.org/10.1038/227158a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/227158a0
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