737 Arequipa is a minor planet orbiting the Sun. It was discovered by American astronomer Joel Hastings Metcalf on 7 December 1912 from Winchester, Massachusetts. This stony S-type asteroid was named after the Peruvian city of Arequipa, where Harvard's Boyden Observatory was located prior to 1927. It is orbiting at a distance of 2.59 AU from the Sun, with an orbital eccentricity (ovalness) of 0.245 and a period of 4.17 yr. The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 12.4° to the ecliptic.[1]

737 Arequipa
Discovery
Discovered byJoel Hastings Metcalf
Discovery siteWinchester, Massachusetts
Discovery date7 December 1912
Designations
(737) Arequipa
1912 QB
Orbital characteristics[1]
Epoch 31 July 2016 (JD 2457600.5)
Uncertainty parameter 0
Observation arc100.96 yr (36874 d)
Aphelion3.2248 AU (482.42 Gm)
Perihelion1.9562 AU (292.64 Gm)
2.5905 AU (387.53 Gm)
Eccentricity0.24485
4.17 yr (1,522.9 d)
24.8306°
0° 14m 11.004s / day
Inclination12.368°
184.672°
134.348°
Physical characteristics
22.035±0.7 km
7.0259 h (0.29275 d)
0.2723±0.018
S
8.81

The rotation period of this asteroid has proven to be a challenge to determine, most likely because it has a complex shape and a rotation axis with a low inclination. However, during the 2015 apparition, photometric measurements of the asteroid were taken from close to the equatorial perspective. The resulting light curve displayed a rotation period of 7.0259±0.0003 h.[2]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "737 Arequipa (1912 QB)". JPL Small-Body Database. NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 20 May 2023.
  2. ^ Marciniak, Anna; et al. (June 2016). Różańska, Agata; Bejger, M. (eds.). "Difficult cases in photometric studies of asteroids". 37th Meeting of the Polish Astronomical Society, held 7–10 September 2015 at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland. Proceedings of the Polish Astronomical Society. 3: 84–87. Bibcode:2016pas..conf...84M.
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