159 Aemilia

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159 Aemilia
Discovery
Discovered by: P. P. Henry
Discovery date: January 26, 1876
Alternative names: 1904 OK, 1959 EG1
Minor planet category: Main belt (Hygiea family)
Orbital characteristics
Epoch 26 November 2005 (JD 2453700.5)
Aphelion distance: 515.348 Gm (3.445 AU)
Perihelion distance: 412.241 Gm (2.756 AU)
Semi-major axis: 463.794 Gm (3.100 AU)
Eccentricity: 0.111
Orbital period: 1993.879 d (5.46 a)
Avg. orbital speed: 16.86 km/s
Mean anomaly: 227.956°
Inclination: 6.128°
Longitude of ascending node: 134.336°
Argument of perihelion: 335.594°
Physical characteristics
Dimensions: 125 km[1]
Mass: ~1.4×1018 kg (estimate)
Mean density: ~1.4 g/cm³ (estimate)[4]
Equatorial surface gravity: ~0.024 m/s² (estimate)
Escape velocity: ~0.055 km/s (estimate)
Rotation period: ~1.05 d [2]
Albedo: 0.0639 [1]
Temperature: ~160 K
max: 239K (-34° C)
Spectral type: C-type asteroid
Absolute magnitude: 8.12

159 Aemilia is a large Main belt asteroid. This slowly rotating, dark asteroid has a primitive carbonaceous composition.

It orbits within the Hygiea family, although it may be an unrelated interloping asteroid, as it is too big to have arisen from the cratering process that most likely produced that family.

Aemilia was discovered by the brothers Paul Henry and Prosper Henry on January 26, 1876. The credit for this discovery was given to Paul. It is probably named after the Via Aemilia, a Roman road in Italy that runs from Piacenza to Rimini.

Two stellar occultations by Aemilia have been recorded so far, the first in 2001 and the second in 2003 [3].

[edit] References

  1. PDS lightcurve data
  2. PDS occultation data
  3. G. A. Krasinsky et al Hidden Mass in the Asteroid Belt, Icarus, Vol. 158, p. 98 (2002).


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