Aitken is a member of the Flora family, one of the largest groups of stony asteroids in the main-belt. It orbits the Sun in the inner main-belt at a distance of 1.9–2.8 AU once every 3 years and 6 months (1,279 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.20 and an inclination of 2° with respect to the ecliptic.[1]
In 1907, the asteroid was first identified as A907 HA at Taunton Observatory (803) in Massachusetts. A precovery, taken at Turku Observatory in 1942, extends the Aitken's observation arc by 7 years prior to its official discovery observation at Goethe Link.[6]
In November 2010, rotational lightcurve of Aitken was obtained from photometric observations made at the Palomar Transient Factory in California. Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period of 6.3965 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.38 magnitude (U=2).[4]
The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for stony asteroids of 0.20 and calculates a diameter of 3.9 kilometers with an absolute magnitude of 14.24.[3]
Aitken became a well known expert on double stars and, in 1932, published the New General Catalogue of Double Stars Within 120° of the North Pole,[7] He is also known for his book The Binary Stars that was first published in 1918.[8] He is also honored by the lunar crater Aitken.[2] The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 21 April 1989 (M.P.C. 14481).[9]
