8549 Alcide

8549 Alcide, provisional designation, is a stony Nysa asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 4.2 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 30 March 1994, by a group of amateur astronomers at the Farra d'Isonzo Observatory, Italy, near the border to Slovenia. It was named for Alcide Bittesini, father of co-discoverer Luciano Bittesini.

Orbit and classification
Alcide is a member of the stony subgroup of the Nysa family, one of the smaller families in the main-belt, named after its namesake, 44 Nysa. The body orbits the Sun in the inner main-belt at a distance of 2.0–2.9 AU once every 3 years and 10 months (1,390 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.19 and an inclination of 2° with respect to the ecliptic. Precoveries were taken at Palomar and Steward Observatory (Kitt Peak) just weeks and days prior to the asteroid's official discovery observation at Farra d'Isonzo.

Lightcurves
A rotational lightcurve of Alcide was obtained from photometric observations made by astronomer David Polishook at the ground-based Wise Observatory, Israel, in November 2007. The lightcurve gave a rotation period of $4.341$ hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.2 magnitude (U=2-).

Diameter and albedo
According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's space-based Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Alcide measures 4.3 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.195, while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for stony asteroids of 0.21 and calculates a diameter of 4.2 kilometers with an absolute magnitude of 14.2.

Naming
This minor planet was named for Italian high-school teacher of natural sciences, Alcide Bittesini (1913–1981). He was the father of amateur astronomer Luciano Bittesini, who co-discovered the asteroid with his amateur colleagues at the Farra d'Isonzo Observatory in Italy.

At the age of 9, his father fostered his interest in astronomy, when they observed a comet with a homespun telescope made of a pair of glasses, a tin can and a microscope eyepiece. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 2 February 1999 (M.P.C. 33791).