4022 Nonna


4022 Nonna, provisional designation, is a Vestian asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 8 October 1981, by Soviet–Russian astronomer Lyudmila Chernykh at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory. The asteroid was named after Soviet actress Nonna Mordyukova. The nearly fast rotator has an exceptionally low lightcurve-amplitude indicating a nearly spherical shape.

Orbit and classification

Nonna is a member of the Vesta family. Vestian asteroids have a composition akin to cumulate eucrites and are thought to have originated deep within 4 Vesta's crust, possibly from the Rheasilvia crater, a large impact crater on its southern hemisphere near the South pole, formed as a result of a subcatastrophic collision. Vesta is the main belt's second-largest and second-most-massive body after Ceres.
It orbits the Sun in the inner main-belt at a distance of 2.1–2.7 AU once every 3 years and 7 months. Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.13 and an inclination of 5° with respect to the ecliptic. The asteroid was first observed at Goethe Link Observatory in October 1952. The body's observation arc begins with its observation as at Crimea-Nauchnij in August 1966, more than 15 years prior to its official discovery observation.

Physical characteristics

Nonna has been characterized as a Q- and V-type asteroid by Pan-STARRS photometric survey, while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes it to be a common S-type asteroid. The overall spectral type of Vestian asteroids is typically that of a V-type.

Rotation period

Since 2006, several rotational lightcurves of Nonna have been obtained from photometric observations at Modra Observatory by astronomers Adrián Galád and Petr Pravec. Analysis of the best-rated lightcurve from September 2006 gave a rotation period of 2.5877 hours with a brightness variation of 0.077 magnitude. A measurement by French amateur astronomer René Roy gave a similar result of 2.62 hours, after using an alternative period solution. All lightcurves showed an unusually low amplitude which is indicative for a spheroidal shape. The asteroid's short period is close to that of a fast rotator.

Diameter and albedo

According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Nonna measures 3.67 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an exceptionally high albedo of 0.907. Conversely, CALL assumes a standard stony albedo of 0.20 and calculates a much larger diameter of 7.13 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 13.1.

Naming

This minor planet was named after Soviet cinema actress Nonna Mordyukova, a celebrated People's Artist of the USSR. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 25 August 1991.