(1297) Quadea, the Incredible Shrinking Asteroid David Dunham, IOTA 2011 November 16

The Uncertain Size of Quadea In 1983, the Infra-Red Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) measured Quadeas mean diameter to be 66 km For many years, that value was unchallenged In 2006, the Japanese AKARI IR mission, whose data were recently published, showed that Quadeas diameter is only 25 km Which one is right, or better? An occultation on Nov. 7/8 might tell The occultation prediction was updated with the AKARI value only about ten days before the occn Quadea was discovered 1934 Jan. 7 at Heidelberg, Germany by Karl Reinmuth, who named it for the parents-in-law of his brother It is a member of the Eos family of asteroids, which have an unusual K-class spectrum, considered low-albedo objects, but Tholen noted that these asteroids have featureless S-class spectra; S-class asteroids have relatively large albedoes.

Occultation of SAO on Nov. 8 UT

Stations for the occultation in Calif. & Nev.

Sky-Plane Plot of the Occultation The mean diameter of 27 km from the occn is just over the 25 km AKARI diameter, which Is clearly better than the IRAS diameter.