A Trio of Tumbling Hungaria Asteroids

During the course of the Hungaria asteroids survey at the Palmer Divide Observatory, three objects observed in early 2011 appear to be in non-principal axis rotation (NPAR, or "tumbling"): (6461) 1993 VB5, (14764) 7072 P-L, and (36316) 2000 LC12. Assuming the true periods of principal axis rotation and precession have been found, two of the three objects, 6461 and 36316, appear to be "slow rotators", with both periods being >24 h. The periods for 14764, however, are <16 h. While no definitive solutions are available, the results are still useful for studying the nature of tumbling asteroids, which are an increasingly critical element in the development of theories regarding the effects of thermal effects (e.g., YORP) on the evolution of spin rates and states among asteroids.