149 Medusa
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| Discovery[1] and Designation | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by: | Henri Joseph Perrotin |
| Discovery date: | September 21, 1875 |
| Alternative names: [2] | |
| Minor planet category: | Main belt |
| Orbital characteristics[3] | |
| Epoch December 31, 2006 (JD 2454100.5) | |
| Aphelion distance: | 346.542 Gm (2.316 AU) |
| Perihelion distance: | 304.026 Gm (2.032 AU) |
| Semi-major axis: | 325.284 Gm (2.174 AU) |
| Eccentricity: | 0.065 |
| Orbital period: | 1171.128 d (3.21 a) |
| Avg. orbital speed: | 20.18 km/s |
| Mean anomaly: | 284.523° |
| Inclination: | 0.937° |
| Longitude of ascending node: | 159.647° |
| Argument of perihelion: | 251.134° |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions: | 19.7 km |
| Mass: | 8.0×1015 kg |
| Mean density: | 2.0 g/cm³ |
| Equatorial surface gravity: | 0.0055 m/s² |
| Equatorial Escape velocity: | 0.0104 km/s |
| Sidereal rotation period: | ? d |
| Axial tilt: | ?° |
| Pole ecliptic latitude: | ? |
| Pole ecliptic longitude: | ? |
| Geometric albedo: | 0.10 |
| Temperature: | ~189 K |
| Spectral type: | ? |
| Absolute magnitude: | 10.79 |
149 Medusa is a bright-coloured, stony main belt asteroid.
It was discovered by J. Perrotin on September 21, 1875 and named after the Gorgon Medusa, a snake-haired monster in Greek mythology.
When it was discovered, Medusa was by far the smallest asteroid found (although this was not known at that time). Since then, many thousands of smaller asteroids have been found.
It has also a rather long rotation period of 26 hours.
| Minor planets | ||
|---|---|---|
| Previous minor planet | 149 Medusa | Next minor planet |
| List of asteroids | ||
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.
