93 Minerva

93 Minerva

A three-dimensional model of 93 Minerva based on its light curve.
Discovery
Discovered by James Craig Watson
Discovery site Ann Arbor, Michigan
Discovery date August 24, 1867
Designations
Named after
Minerva
1949 QN2, A902 DA
Main belt
Orbital characteristics
Epoch November 4, 2013
Aphelion 3.1439 AU (470.32 Gm)
Perihelion 2.3655 AU (353.87 Gm)
2.7546 AU (412.08 Gm)
Eccentricity 0.1413
1669.951 d (4.57 a)
~17.86 km/s
46.0555°
Inclination 8.55996°
4.07627°
274.913°
Physical characteristics
Dimensions 141.55±4 km (87.96±2.5 mi) (IRAS)[1]
156km (spherical)[2]
Mass 3.7×1018 kg (assumed)[3]
Mean density
1.9 g/cm³[2]
4.139 cm/s2 (0.004221 g)[4]
8.035 cm/s[4]
5.982 hr[1]
Albedo 0.073[1]
Temperature ~168 K
Spectral type
C[1]
G?[2]
7.8[1]

    93 Minerva (/mˈnɜːrvə/ mi-NUR-və) is a large trinary main-belt asteroid. It is a C-type asteroid, meaning that it has a dark surface and possibly a primitive carbonaceous composition. It was discovered by J. C. Watson on August 24, 1867, and named after Minerva, the Roman equivalent of Athena, goddess of wisdom. An occultation of a star by Minerva was observed in France, Spain and the United States on November 22, 1982. An occultation diameter of ~170 km was measured from the observations. Since then two more occultations have been observed, which give an estimated mean diameter of ~150 km for diameter.[5][6]

    Satellites

    On August 16, 2009, at 13:36 UT, the Keck Observatory's adaptive optics system revealed that the asteroid 93 Minerva possesses 2 small moons.[7] They are 4 and 3 km in diameter and the projected separations from Minerva correspond to 630 km (8.8 x Rprimary) and 380 km (5.2 x Rprimary) respectively.[7] They have been named Aegis and Gorgoneion.[8]

    References

    1. 1 2 3 4 5 "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 93 Minerva" (2011-12-29 last obs). Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 2012-01-28.
    2. 1 2 3 Franck Marchis (October 7, 2011). "Is the triple Asteroid Minerva a baby-Ceres?". NASA blog (Cosmic Diary). Retrieved 2012-01-28.
    3. Using a spherical radius of 78 km; volume of a sphere * density of 1.9 g/cm³ yields a mass (m=d*v) of 3.77E+18 kg
    4. 1 2 "HEC:Exoplanets Calculator/Planet Density, Surface Gravity, and Escape Velocity". Planetary Habitability Laboratory. University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo. Retrieved 10 January 2014.
    5. The occultation of AG+29°398 by 93 Minerva. R. L. Millis, L. H. Wasserman, E. Bowell, O. G. Franz, R. NyeW. OsbornA. Klemola
    6. Observed minor planet occultation events, version of 2005 July 26
    7. 1 2 Franck Marchis (2009-08-21). "The discovery of a new triple asteroid, (93) Minerva". Cosmic Diary Blog. Retrieved 2009-10-25.
    8. M.P.C. 86284

    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.