OBSERVATIONS OF THE ASTEROID 302 CLARISSA BY FAST MULTICHANNEL PHOTOMETER

Identified as a possible flyby target for the Cassini spacecraft, aste roid 302 Clarissa became the focus of our observing programme in 1991. Multichannel photoelectric observations were performed at Calar Alto Observatory in Spain during four nights (from 29 October to 2 November 1991). Although a subsequent change in the mission scenario removed t he asteroids from consideration for the Cassini mission, the ground-ba sed observations yielded a substantial amount of information on this a steroid. A sidereal rotation period of 14.3 81 +/- 0.002 h with lightc urve amplitude of 0.6 mag has been determined. Considerations on the u se of continuous photometry for observations of asteroids are given.