4585 Ainonai


4585 Ainonai is a dark Chloris asteroid, approximately in diameter, located in the central region of the asteroid belt. It was discovered on 16 May 1990, by Japanese amateur astronomers Kin Endate and Kazuro Watanabe at the Kitami Observatory in eastern Hokkaidō, Japan. The presumed carbonaceous C-type asteroid has a longer than average rotation period of 38.3 hours. It was named for the Japanese town of Ainonai, located near the discovering observatory.

Orbit and classification

When applying the hierarchical clustering method to its proper orbital elements, Ainonai is a core member of the Chloris family, a smaller family of carbonaceous main-belt asteroids, named after its parent body 410 Chloris. It orbits the Sun in the central asteroid belt at a distance of 2.1–3.4 AU once every 4 years and 6 months. Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.24 and an inclination of 11° with respect to the ecliptic. The body's observation arc begins with its first observation as at Crimea–Nauchnij on 9 June 1972, or 18 years prior to its official discovery observation at Kitami.

Naming

This minor planet was named after Ainonai, a small Japanese town located near Kitami in eastern Hokkaidō. Asteroids 3785 Kitami and 3720 Hokkaido are named after these two places. The was published by the Minor Planet Center on 21 November 1991.

Physical characteristics

Ainonai is an assumed carbonaceous C-type asteroid. This agrees with the overall spectral type of the Chloris family.

Lightcurve

In June 2008, a rotational lightcurve of Ainonai was obtained from photometric observations by James W. Brinsfield at the Via Capote Observatory in California. Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period of hours with a brightness variation of magnitude.

Diameter and albedo

According to observations from the NEOWISE mission of NASA's space-based Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Ainonai measures kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for a carbonaceous asteroid of 0.057 and calculates a diameter of 14.64 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 12.9.