Petit-Prince (moon)
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| Discovery [1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | W. J. Merline, L. M. Close, C. Dumas, C. R. Chapman, F. Roddier, F. Menard, D. C. Slater, G. Duvert, J. C. Shelton, and T. Morgan |
| Discovered on | November 1, 1998 |
| Orbital characteristics [2] | |
| Is a satellite of | 45 Eugenia |
| Semimajor axis | 1184 ± 12 km |
| Eccentricity | 0.0100 ± 0.0002 |
| Orbital period | 4.766 ± 0.001 d |
| Orbital speed | 18.1 m/s |
| Inclination | 8.0 ± 0.1° (with respect to Eugenia equator) |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | ~ 13 km (estimate) [3] |
| Mass | ~ 1.2×1015 kg (estimate) [4] |
| Escape velocity | ~ 5 m/s (estimate) |
| Rotation period | unknown |
| Axial tilt | unknown |
| Albedo | unknown |
| Absolute magnitude | 13.6 [5] |
(45) Eugenia I Petit-Prince is an asteroid moon that orbits the larger asteroid 45 Eugenia. It was discovered in 1998 by astronomers at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii. Initially, it received the provisional designation S/1998 (45) 1.
Petit-Prince was named in 2003 after Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's character The Little Prince, who was in turn based on the Prince Imperial, son of Empress Eugenia. It is an extremely appropriate name, since The Little Prince in the novel lives on an asteroid. In the book, the little prince's asteroid has no name, but it has a unique identifier: B612.
Petit-Prince is 13 km in diameter, compared to 45 Eugenia's 214 km. It takes five days to complete an orbit around Eugenia.
Petit-Prince was the first asteroidal moon to be discovered by a ground-based telescope. Previously, the only known moon of an asteroid was Dactyl, discovered by the Galileo space probe around 243 Ida.
[edit] See also
- 2578 Saint-Exupéry
- 46610 Bésixdouze, named B-six-twelve in French (and whose number equals 0xB612)
- 612 Veronika
[edit] References
- ^ IAUC 7129, announcing the discovery
- ^ synthesis of several observations, F. Marchis.
- ^ Assuming the same albedo as Eugenia, then using the difference in absolute magnitude
- ^ Assuming same density and albedo as Eugenia
- ^ W.J. Merline at al. (1999). "Discovery of a moon orbiting the asteroid 45 Eugenia". Nature 401: 565.
[edit] External links
- Data sheet compiled by W. Robert Johnston
- IAUC 7503, announcing Petit-Prince's naming
- orbit details compiled by F. Marchis, includes diagrams
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| Vulcanoids | Near-Earth asteroids | Main belt | Jupiter Trojans | Centaurs | Damocloids | Comets | Trans-Neptunians (Kuiper belt · Scattered disc · Oort cloud) |
| For other objects and regions, see: asteroid groups and families, binary asteroids, asteroid moons and the Solar system For a complete listing, see: List of asteroids. See also Pronunciation of asteroid names and Meanings of asteroid names. |
