5176 Yoichi (provisional designation 1989 AU) is a background asteroid from the central regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 17 kilometers (11 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 4 January 1989 by Japanese astronomers Seiji Ueda and Hiroshi Kaneda at the Kushiro Observatory on Hokkaido, Japan.[1] The likely elongated asteroid has a brightness variation of 0.45 magnitude[11] and occulted a star in the constellation Cetus in November 2014.[12] It was named for the Japanese town of Yoichi.[1]
The body's observation arc begins with its first observations as 1935 YH at Johannesburg Observatory in December 1935, or 53 years before its official discovery observation at Kushiro.[1]
According to the surveys carried out by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite IRAS, the Japanese Akari satellite, and the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Yoichi measures between 15.68 and 19.49 kilometers in diameter, and its surface has an albedo between 0.05 and 0.0849.[4][6][7][8][9]
The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link derives an albedo of 0.0777 and a diameter of 16.54 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 12.3.[5]
Occultation
On 2 November 2014, Yoichi occulted an 8.4 magnitude star HIP 14421 in the constellation Cetus, causing a magnitude drop from 8.4 to 14.1 during 2.8 seconds. The occultation was visible over Southern Japan, Eastern China, and Southern California to North Florida. The asteroid's 23-kilometer-wide shadow had a speed of approximately 6.8km/s. An approximate diameter of 20 kilometers was assumed for the asteroid.[12]
1234Masiero, Joseph R.; Mainzer, A. K.; Grav, T.; Bauer, J. M.; Cutri, R. M.; Nugent, C.; etal. (November 2012). "Preliminary Analysis of WISE/NEOWISE 3-Band Cryogenic and Post-cryogenic Observations of Main Belt Asteroids". The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 759 (1): 5. arXiv:1209.5794. Bibcode:2012ApJ...759L...8M. doi:10.1088/2041-8205/759/1/L8. S2CID46350317.
1234Usui, Fumihiko; Kuroda, Daisuke; Müller, Thomas G.; Hasegawa, Sunao; Ishiguro, Masateru; Ootsubo, Takafumi; etal. (October 2011). "Asteroid Catalog Using Akari: AKARI/IRC Mid-Infrared Asteroid Survey". Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan. 63 (5): 1117–1138. Bibcode:2011PASJ...63.1117U. doi:10.1093/pasj/63.5.1117. (online, AcuA catalog p. 153)