Sable Sable The sable ("Martes zibellina") is a species of marten, a small carnivorous mammal primarily inhabiting the forest environments, of Russia, from the Ural Mountains throughout Siberia, and northern Mongolia. Its habitat also borders eastern Kazakhstan, China, North Korea and Hokkaidō, Japan. Its range in the wild originally extended through European Russia to Poland and Scandinavia. Historically, it has been hunted for its highly valued dark brown or black fur, which remains a luxury good to this day. While hunting is still common in Russia, most fur on the market is now commercially farmed. The name "sable" appears to be
5026 Martes well-defined rotation period of 4.4243 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.69 magnitude (). According to the survey carried out by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, "Martes" measures 8.967 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.066, which is typical for carbonaceous asteroids. The "Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link", however, assumes a standard albedo for stony asteroids of 0.20 and consequently calculates a much smaller diameter of 4.93 kilometers, due to the higher albedo. This minor planet was named for the two species of the family Mustelidae, the pine marten and beech marten.