3757 Anagolay


3757 Anagolay, provisional designation, is a highly eccentric asteroid, classified as a potentially hazardous asteroid and a near-Earth object of the Amor group, approximately half a kilometer in diameter. It was discovered on 14 December 1982, by American astronomer Eleanor Helin at the Palomar Observatory in California, United States. The asteroid was named after Anagolay from Philippine mythology.

Orbit and classification

Anagolay orbits the Sun in the inner main-belt at a distance of 1.0–2.7 AU once every 2 years and 6 months. Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.45 and an inclination of 4° with respect to the ecliptic.
It is a potentially hazardous asteroid because its Earth minimum orbit intersection distance is less than 0.05 AU and its diameter is greater than 150 meters. Its Earth-MOID is which corresponds to 15 lunar distances. Its orbit is well-determined for the next several hundred years. The body's observation arc begins in 1986, as no precoveries and no identifications prior to its discovery were made.

Physical characteristics

In the Tholen classification, Anagolay is a silicaceous S-type asteroid.
Based on two rotational lightcurves obtained in the 1980s, Anagolay has a rotation period of 9.012 hours and a brightness variation of 0.20 and 0.21 in magnitude, respectively. A third lightcurve, also from the 1980s, gave an alternative period of hours with an amplitude of 0.14. The body's albedo lies between 0.18 and 0.34, with the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link deriving an intermediate albedo of 0.26. CALL also assumes a diameter of 390 meters.

Naming

This minor planet was named after Anagolay, the goddess of the lost things worshipped by pre-Hispanic Tagalogs. In Philippine mythology, Anagolay is the daughter of the hermaphroditic agricultural deity Lakampati.
The name, suggested by Filipino student Mohammad Abqary Alon, was selected among 85 other suggestions in a contest held by the Space Generation Advisory Council's "Name-An-Asteroid" campaign. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 9 September 2014.