A Shape Model of the Main-Belt Asteroid 27 Euterpe

This report first appeared in The Minor Planet Bulletin, Vol. 39, No. 1. The purpose of this republication is to demonstrate the good work being done by the ALPO Minor Plants Section and recruit others to likewise participate. We obtainedlightcurves for the main-belt asteroid 27 Euterpe during four apparitions in 2000, 2009, 2010 and 2011. The analysis indicates retrograde rotation and suggests, but does not confirm, that Euterpe has albedo features making the determination of an unambiguous spin vector and model shape difficult. Euterpe's apparent nearly spherical shape, low inclination, and pole within about 35 degrees of the plane of the solar system, caused two pole and shape solutions to be present, differing by about 180° in longitude. We found solutions of (83°, -39°, 10.40825 ± 0.00003 h) and (261°, -30°, 10.40818 ± 0.00003 h). The approximate error in the pole solutions is ± 10 degrees.