87 Sylvia

87 Sylvia

Adaptive Optics observations of (87) Sylvia, showing its two satellites, Remus and Romulus.
Discovery
Discovered by Norman Robert Pogson
Discovery date May 16, 1866
Designations
Pronunciation /ˈsɪlviə/ SIL-vee-ə
A909 GA
Outer main belt (Cybele)
Orbital characteristics
Epoch July 14, 2004 (JD 2453200.5)
Aphelion 3.768 AU (563.679 Gm)
Perihelion 3.213 AU (480.594 Gm)
3.490 AU (522.137 Gm)
Eccentricity 0.080
6.52 a (2381.697 d)
15.94 km/s
352.763°
Inclination 10.855°
73.342°
266.195°
Known satellites 2
Physical characteristics
Dimensions (384×262×232)±10 km[1][2]
286 km (mean)
385×265×230 ± 10 km[3]
Mass 1.478±0.006×1019 kg[1][3]
Mean density
 1.2 ± 0.1 g/cm3[1][3]
0.0729 m/s2
0.1379 km/s
0.2160 d (5.183642 h) [4][5]
Albedo 0.0435 [6]
Temperature ~151 K
max: 223 K (−52°C)
Spectral type
 X [7]
6.94

    87 Sylvia is the 8th-largest asteroid in the asteroid belt. It is a member of the Cybele group located beyond the core of the belt (see minor-planet groups). Sylvia is the first asteroid known to possess more than one moon.

    Discovery and naming

    Sylvia was discovered by N. R. Pogson on May 16, 1866 from Madras (Chennai), India.[8] A. Paluzie-Borrell, writing in Paul Erget's The Names of the Minor Planets (1955), mistakenly states that the name honours Sylvie Petiaux-Hugo Flammarion, the first wife of astronomer Camille Flammarion. In fact, in the article announcing the discovery of the asteroid, Pogson explained that he selected the name in reference to Rhea Silvia, mother of Romulus and Remus (MNRAS, 1866).

    Physical characteristics

    Sylvia is very dark in color and probably has a very primitive composition. The discovery of its moons made possible an accurate measurement of the asteroid's mass and density. Its density was found to be very low (around 1.2 times the density of water), indicating that the asteroid is porous to very porous; from 25% to as much as 60% of it may be empty space,[3] depending on the details of its composition. However, the mineralogy of the X-type asteroids is not known well enough to constrain this further. Either way, this suggests a loose rubble pile structure. Sylvia is also a fairly fast rotator, turning about its axis every 5.18 hours (giving an equatorial rotation velocity of about 230 km/h or 145 mph). The short axis is the rotation axis.[4] Direct images[3] indicate that Sylvia's pole points towards ecliptic coordinates (β, λ) = (+62.6°, 72.4°) with only a 0.5° uncertainty, which gives it an axial tilt of around 29.1°. Sylvia's shape is strongly elongated.

    Satellite system

    Sylvia has two orbiting satellites. They have been named (87) Sylvia I Romulus and (87) Sylvia II Remus, after Romulus and Remus, the children of the mythological Rhea Silvia.

    Romulus, the first moon, was discovered on February 18, 2001 from the Keck II telescope by Michael E. Brown and Jean-Luc Margot. Remus, the second moon, was discovered over three years later on August 9, 2004 by Franck Marchis of UC Berkeley, and Pascal Descamps, Daniel Hestroffer, and Jérôme Berthier of the Observatoire de Paris, France.

    The orbital properties of the satellites are listed in this table.[9] The orbital planes of both satellites and the equatorial plane of the primary asteroid are all well-aligned; all planes are aligned within about 1 degree of each other, suggestive of satellite formation in or near the equatorial plane of the primary.

    Name Mass [kg] Semi-major axis [km] Orbital period [days] Eccentricity
    Remus 7.3×1014 706.5 1.37 0.027
    Romulus 9.3×1014 1357 3.65 0.006

    References

    1. 1 2 3 Jim Baer (2008). "Recent Asteroid Mass Determinations". Personal Website. Retrieved 2008-12-05.
    2. ↑ Data sheet compiled by W. R. Johnston
    3. 1 2 3 4 5 F. Marchis; et al. (2005). "Discovery of the triple asteroidal system 87 Sylvia". Nature 436 (7052): 822–4. Bibcode:2005Natur.436..822M. doi:10.1038/nature04018. PMID 16094362.
    4. 1 2 M. Kaasalainen; et al. (2002). "Models of Twenty Asteroids from Photometric Data" (PDF). Icarus 159 (2): 369. Bibcode:2002Icar..159..369K. doi:10.1006/icar.2002.6907.
    5. ↑ PDS lightcurve data
    6. ↑ Supplemental IRAS Minor Planet Survey
    7. ↑ PDS spectral class data
    8. ↑ Pogson, N. R. (1866), Minor Planet (87) Sylvia, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 26, p. 311 (June 1866)
    9. ↑ Fang, Julia. "Orbits, Masses, and Evolution of Main Belt Triple (87) Sylvia". Astronomical Journal. arXiv:1206.5755. Bibcode:2012AJ....144...70F. doi:10.1088/0004-6256/144/2/70. Retrieved 8 November 2012.

    External links

    This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, April 08, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.