285263 1998 QE2
285263 1998 QE2 is a Potentially Hazardous Amor asteroid discovered by LINEAR at
Socorro in 1998.
A total of 515 data points were obtained over seven nights during the period 2013 May 2-10
including solar phase angles between +67.4° to +70.8°.
The average magnitude was 16.1 and average SNR was 110.
MPO Canopus suggests a number of possible lightcurve periods including 4.3, 4.7, 5.3 and
5.9 h.
Subsequent analysis of radar data obtained at Goldstone and Arecibo shows that 1998
QE2 is a binary system. The primary has a rotation period of the order of 4.7h and the
satellite of the order of 32h
(http://echo.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroids/1998QE2/1998QE2_planning.html).
The lightcurve presented in this paper shows a rotation period of 4.751 h ± 0.001 h, which
is consistent with the radar data, and amplitude of 0.23 ± 0.01 mag suggesting that the
asteroid rotated 40 times during the period of observation.
These findings were published in the Minor Planet Bulletin, Volume 41, Number 1,
2014January - March.