2032 Ethel


2032 Ethel, provisional designation, is a dark background asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 36 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 30 July 1970, by Soviet astronomer Tamara Smirnova at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory in Nauchnyj, on the Crimean peninsula. The asteroid was named after Irish writer Ethel Voynich.

Orbit and classification

Ethel is a non-family asteroid of the main belt's background population. It orbits the Sun in the outer asteroid belt at a distance of 2.7–3.5 AU once every 5 years and 5 months. Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.13 and an inclination of 2° with respect to the ecliptic.
The body's observation arc begins with it identification as at Goethe Link Observatory in February 1952, more than 18 years prior to its official discovery observation Nauchnyj.

Physical characteristics

Diameter and albedo

According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Ethel measures 36.007 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.034.

Rotation period

As of 2017, no rotational lightcurve of Ethel has been obtained from photometric observations. The body's rotation period, poles and shape remain unknown.

Naming

This minor planet was named after Ethel Lilian Voynich, an Irish writer of the late Victorian epoch, best known for her novel The Gadfly. The official was published by the Minor Planet Center on 1 September 1978.