3067 Akhmatova

3067 Akhmatova, provisional designation, is a stony Flora asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 6 kilometers in diameter.

The asteroid discovered on 14 October 1982, by Soviet–Russian astronomers Lyudmila Zhuravleva and Lyudmila Karachkina at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory, Nauchnyj, on the Crimean peninsula. It was named after Russian poet Anna Akhmatova.

Orbit and classification
Akhmatova is a S-type asteroid and a member of the Flora family, one of the largest groups of stony asteroids in the main-belt. It orbits the Sun in the inner main-belt at a distance of 1.9–2.6 AU once every 3 years and 4 months (1,229 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.14 and an inclination of 5° with respect to the ecliptic.

It was first identified as at Turku Observatory in 1938. The asteroid's observation arc begins with its identification as at Goethe Link Observatory in 1962, or 20 years prior to its official discovery observation at Nauchnyj.

Diameter and albedo
According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's space-based Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Akhmatova measures 6.3 and 6.5 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.269 and 0.285, respectively, while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.24 – which derives from 8 Flora, the largest member and namesake of this orbital family – and calculates a diameter of 6.8 kilometers with an absolute magnitude of 13.0.

Rotation period
In December 2009, and May 2012, two rotational lightcurves of Akhmatova were obtained from photometric observations by Czech astronomer Petr Pravec. Lightcurve analysis showed a rotation period of $6.253$ and $6.457$ hours with a brightness variation of 0.30 and 0.24 in magnitude, respectively (U=3/3). Observations at the Palomar Transient Factory in August 2012, gave a period of $3.686$ hours and an amplitude of 0.40 in magnitude (U=2).

Naming
This minor planet was named after Russian modernist poet, Anna Akhmatova (1889–1966), awarded an honorary doctorate by Oxford University. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 31 May 1988 (M.P.C. 13174).