61 Danaë
 | |
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | H. Goldschmidt |
| Discovery date | September 9, 1860 |
| Designations | |
Named after | Danaë |
| A917 SM; 1953 RL1 | |
| Main belt | |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Epoch June 14, 2006 (JD 2453900.5) | |
| Aphelion | 520.969 Gm (3.482 AU) |
| Perihelion | 371.280 Gm (2.482 AU) |
| 446.125 Gm (2.982 AU) | |
| Eccentricity | 0.168 |
| 1881.025 d (5.15 a) | |
Average orbital speed | 17.13 km/s |
| 91.103° | |
| Inclination | 18.218° |
| 333.774° | |
| 13.831° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 82.52 ± 2.73[1] km |
| Mass | (2.89 ± 2.78) × 1018 kg[1] |
Mean density | 9.81 ± 9.49[1] g/cm3 |
| 0.0126 m/s² | |
| 0.0322 km/s | |
| 0.4771 d (11.45 h) | |
| Albedo | 0.2224±0.025 |
| Temperature | ~155 K |
Spectral type | S |
| 7.68 | |
|
| |
61 Danaë (/ˈdænəjiː/ DAN-ə-yee or /dəˈneɪ.ə/ də-NAY-ə) is a moderately large, rocky main belt asteroid. It was discovered by Hermann Goldschmidt on September 9, 1860 from his balcony in Paris.
Goldschmidt was ill when asked to name the asteroid, and requested his fellow asteroid-hunter Robert Luther to name it instead. Luther chose to name it after Danaë, the mother of Perseus in Greek mythology.[2] Danaë was the first asteroid to have a diacritical character in its official name.
In 1985, a study of lightcurve data suggested that Danaë may have a moon. If so, the main body would be an ellipsoid measuring 85×80×75 km (52x49x46 mi), and the moon would orbit 101 kilometres (63 mi) away, measuring 55×30×30 km (34x18x18 mi). The density of both would be 1.1 g/cm³.
References
- 1 2 3 Carry, B. (December 2012), "Density of asteroids", Planetary and Space Science 73, pp. 98–118, arXiv:1203.4336, Bibcode:2012P&SS...73...98C, doi:10.1016/j.pss.2012.03.009. See Table 1.
- ↑ Schmadel, Lutz (2003). Dictionary of minor planet names (fifth ed.). Germany: Springer. p. 21. ISBN 3-540-00238-3. Retrieved 2008-12-29.
- A. Cellino, R. Pannunzio, V. Zappalà, P. Farinella, and P. Paolicchi, 1985, Do we observe light curves of binary asteroids?, Astronomy and Astrophysics, Vol. 144, No. 2, pp. 355–362.
External links
- 61 Danaë at the JPL Small-Body Database
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