12696 Camus

12696 Camus
Discovery
Discovered by	E. W. Elst
Discovery site	La Silla Obs.
Discovery date	26 September 1989
Designations
MPC designation	(12696) Camus
Named after	Albert Camus; (French writer)
Alternative designations	1989 SF1 · 1993 QL2
Minor planet category	main-belt · (middle); background
Orbital characteristics
	Epoch 4 September 2017 (JD 2458000.5)
	Uncertainty parameter 0
Observation arc	27.59 yr (10,079 days)
Aphelion	2.9984 AU
Perihelion	2.2463 AU
Semi-major axis	2.6224 AU
Eccentricity	0.1434
Orbital period (sidereal)	4.25 yr (1,551 days)
Mean anomaly	277.29°
Mean motion	0° 13m 55.56s / day
Inclination	7.9950°
Longitude of ascending node	160.38°
Argument of perihelion	128.01°
Physical characteristics
Mean diameter	7.71±3.44 km; 9.329±0.056 km; 11.11 km (calculated)
Synodic rotation period	3.78±0.04 h
Geometric albedo	0.057 (assumed); 0.069±0.009; 0.130±0.086
Spectral type	C
Absolute magnitude (H)	13.4 · 13.5

12696 Camus, provisional designation 1989 SF₁, is a carbonaceous background asteroid from the central region of the asteroid belt, approximately 9 kilometers in diameter.

It was discovered on 26 September 1989, by Belgian astronomer Eric Elst at ESO's La Silla Observatory in northern Chile, and named after French Nobel Prize laureate in literature Albert Camus.^[2]^[9]

Classification and orbit

Camus is a non-family asteroid from the main belt's background population. It orbits the Sun in the central asteroid belt at a distance of 2.2–3.0 AU once every 4 years and 3 months (1,551 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.14 and an inclination of 8° with respect to the ecliptic.^[1] The asteroid's observation arc begins with its discovery, as no precoveries were taken and no identifications were made before 1989.^[9]

Naming

This minor planet was named after French philosopher, author, and journalist, Albert Camus (1913–1960), who received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1957.^[2]

Camus is best known for his novels L'Etranger (The Stranger) and La Peste (The Plague). His main interests were justice, ethics, and politics. As a liberal humanist, he was against the doctrines of Christianity as well as Marxism.^[2] The approved naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 20 March 2000 (M.P.C. 39658).^[10]

Physical characteristics

Camus has been characterized as a carbonaceous C-type asteroid by Pan-STARRS photometric survey.^[8]

Lightcurves

In October 2006, a rotational lightcurve of Camus was obtained from photometric observations by Julian Oey at the Leura Observatory (E17) in Australia. The lightcurve rendered a rotation period of 3.78±0.04 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.40 in magnitude (U=3-).^[7]

Diameter and albedo

According to NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Camus has an albedo of 0.07 and 0.13 with a corresponding diameter of 9.3 and 7.7 kilometers, respectively.^[4]^[5]^[6] The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for carbonaceous asteroids of 0.057 and calculates a larger diameter of 11.1 kilometer with an absolute magnitude of 13.5.^[3]