1460 Haltia

1460 Haltia, provisional designation, is a stony background asteroid from the central regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 8 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 24 November 1937, by Finnish astronomer Yrjö Väisälä at the Iso-Heikkilä Observatory in Turku, Finland. The asteroid was named after Halti (Haltia), Finland's highest peak on the border to Norway.

Orbit and classification
Haltia is a non-family asteroid of the main belt's background population. It orbits the Sun in the central asteroid belt at a distance of 2.1–3.0 AU once every 4 years and 1 month (1,481 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.19 and an inclination of 7° with respect to the ecliptic. The body's observation arc begins with its official discovery observation at Turku.

Physical characteristics
Haltia is an assumed stony S-type asteroid.

Rotation period
Two rotational lightcurves of Haltia were obtained from photometric observations by astronomers Henk de Groot, Raoul Behrend and René Roy. Lightcurve analysis gave a respective rotation period of 3.58682 and 3.588 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.32 magnitude (U=3-/3). The Lightcurve Data Base adopts a consolidated period of 3.59 hours.

Diameter and albedo
According to the surveys carried out by the Japanese Akari satellite and the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Haltia measures between 6.57 and 8.44 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo between 0.186 and 0.36.

The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for stony asteroids of 0.20 and calculates a diameter of 8.97 based on an absolute magnitude of 12.6.

Naming
This minor planet was named after Halti (Haltia), the highest Finnish peak at 1365 m located on the border between Norway and Finland. The official was published by the Minor Planet Center on 20 February 1976 (M.P.C. 3928).