This minor planet was named by the Academic Senate of the Vienna University in honor of then-Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover (1874–1964), in recognition of his help to Austria after World War I. The naming was mentioned in the Astronomische Nachrichten in 1922 (AN 216, 192).[2] Hoover became the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933. A second asteroid 1363 Herberta was also named after him in 1938.
Another of Palisa's discoveries, asteroid 941 Murray, was also named in appreciation for the help provided to post-war Austria. In this case, it was named after British classical scholar and diplomat Gilbert Murray (1866–1957).
In December 2016, a rotational lightcurve of Hooveria was obtained from photometric observations by Anna Marciniak at the Poznań Observatory and other observers around the world during a survey, that collected spin and shape properties of long-period main-belt asteroids. Lightcurve analysis gave a well-defined rotation period of 78.44±0.01 hours with a brightness variation of 0.24±0.02magnitude (U=3).[8] The results supersede observations by Brian Warner at the Palmer Divide Observatory (716) and collaborators from February 2010, which gave a rotation period 39.1±0.1 hours (or half the period solution) with a brightness amplitude of 0.22±0.02 magnitude (U=2+).[11][a]
Diameter and albedo
According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) and the Japanese Akari satellite, Hooveria measures (58.978±0.804) and (60.20±0.71) kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of (0.051±0.006) and (0.049±0.001), respectively.[6][7] The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.20 and calculates a diameter of 29.72 km based on an absolute magnitude of 10.00.[9]
Further published mean-diameters and albedos by the WISE team include (59.101±21.01 km), (60.54±17.87 km), (61.70±21.32 km) and (62.973±1.412 km) with corresponding albedos of (0.0347±0.0290), (0.04±0.08), (0.03±0.02), and (0.0296±0.0039).[5][9] An asteroid occultation on 1 February 2006, gave a best-fit ellipse dimension of 33.0 × 33.0 kilometers.[5] These timed observations are taken when the asteroid passes in front of a distant star. However the quality of the measurement is poorly rated.[5]
Notes
^Lightcurve plot of (932) Hooveria, Palmer Divide Observatory, Brian Warner (2010). Rotation period 39.1±0.1 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.22±0.02 mag. Quality code of 2+. Summary figures for (932) Hooveria at the LCDB
^ abcMasiero, Joseph R.; Grav, T.; Mainzer, A. K.; Nugent, C. R.; Bauer, J. M.; Stevenson, R.; et al. (August 2014). "Main-belt Asteroids with WISE/NEOWISE: Near-infrared Albedos". The Astrophysical Journal. 791 (2): 11. arXiv:1406.6645. Bibcode:2014ApJ...791..121M. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/791/2/121.