It orbits the Sun in the inner asteroid belt at a distance of 1.9–2.6 AU once every 3 years and 4 months (1,226 days; semi-major axis of 2.24 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.14 and an inclination of 3° with respect to the ecliptic.[2] The body's observation arc begins with its first observation as 1950 TX2 at Goethe Link Observatory in October 1950, more than 37 years prior to its official discovery observation at Kushiro.[1]
In December 2004, a rotational lightcurve of Burney was obtained from photometric observations by Donald Pray at the Carbuncle Hill Observatory (912). Lightcurve analysis gave a well-defined rotation period of 15.515 hours with a brightness variation of 0.60 magnitude (U=3).[9] The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) also measured a high amplitude 0.71 and 0.95 magnitude, which indicates that asteroid has an elongated shape.[3]
Diameter and albedo
According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's WISE telescope, Burney measures between 3.64 and 4.083 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo between 0.29 and 0.36.[5][6][7][8]
The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.24 – derived from 8 Flora, the parent body of the Flora family – and calculates a diameter of 4.50 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 13.9.[3]
Naming
This minor planet was named after Venetia Burney (1918–2009) who, as a girl of eleven, first suggested the mythological name Pluto – the Roman God of the Underworld who was able to make himself invisible – for the dwarf planet Pluto, then considered the ninth planet in the Solar System.[1] The naming of the asteroid "Burney" was not suggested by the asteroid discoverers. It was designated by the Working Group for Small Bodies Nomenclature (SBN) of Division III (Planetary Systems Sciences) of the International Astronomical Union.[citation needed] The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 15 December 2005 (M.P.C. 55720).[12]