1359 Prieska

1359 Prieska, provisional designation, is a rare-type carbonaceous asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 50 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 22 July 1935, by English-born South-African astronomer Cyril Jackson at Johannesburg Observatory in South Africa. The asteroid was named after the South African town of Prieska.

Orbit and classification
Prieska orbits the Sun in the outer main-belt at a distance of 2.9–3.3 AU once every 5 years and 6 months (2,011 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.07 and an inclination of 11° with respect to the ecliptic. In 1903, Prieska was first identified as at Heidelberg Observatory, extending the body's observation arc by 32 years prior to its official discovery observation at Johannesburg.

Physical characteristics
According to the surveys carried out by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission and the Japanese Akari satellite, Prieska measures between 36.45 and 65.86 kilometers in diameter, and its surface has an albedo between 0.03 and 0.07. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link derives an albedo of 0.0494 and a diameter of 52.07 kilometers with an absolute magnitude of 10.3.

Spectral type
In the Tholen taxonomy, Prieska is a rare CX:-subtype, that transitions from the dark C to the X-type asteroids. Only a few asteroids have been assigned this spectral type by Tholen (also see list of CX-type asteroids).

Lightcurves
Photometric lightcurve observations of Prieska at the Australian Oakley Southern Sky Observatory (E09) in May 2011 and October 2013, respectively, were inconclusive due to insufficient data. As of 2017, the asteroid's rotation period still remains unknown.

Naming
This minor planet was named for the South African town of Prieska, located on the south bank of the Orange River, in the province of the Northern Cape. The official naming citation was mentioned in The Names of the Minor Planets by Paul Herget in 1955 (H 123).