1516 Henry

1516 Henry, provisional designation 1938 BG, is a stony asteroid from the middle region of the asteroid belt, about 20 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 28 January 1938, by French astronomer André Patry at Nice Observatory in southeastern France.

The S-type asteroid orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.1–3.1 AU once every 4 years and 3 months (1,551 days). Its orbit shows an eccentricity of 0.18 and is tilted by 9 degrees to the plane of the ecliptic. It has a rotation period of 17.37 hours and an albedo of 0.04–0.05, based on the surveys carried out by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite, IRAS, the Japanese Akari satellite, and the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission.

The minor planet is named after the two brothers Paul Henry and Prosper Henry (1848–1905 and 1849–1903, respectively), who each discovered seven asteroids. As opticians, they constructed the 76-cm refractor telescope at Nice Observatory, among others. While mapping the ecliptic during their Carte du Ciel survey, they made all their fourteen, low-numbered asteroid discoveries, starting with 125 Liberatrix. They are also honoured by the lunar crater Henry Frères. The Martian crater Henry was named in honour of Paul.

External links

• Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB), query form (info)
• Dictionary of Minor Planet Names, Google books
• Asteroids and comets rotation curves, CdR – Observatoire de Genève, Raoul Behrend
• Discovery Circumstances: Numbered Minor Planets (1)-(5000) – Minor Planet Center
• 1516 Henry at the JPL Small-Body Database

• Discovery · Orbit diagram · Orbital elements · Physical parameters