2685 Masursky
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Masursky as seen by Cassini |
|
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by: | Edward L. G. Bowell |
| Discovery date: | May 3, 1981 |
| Alternative names: | 1950 VO; 1973 QF; 1975 XJ5; 1977 KU; 1981 JN |
| Minor planet category: | Main belt (Eunomia family) |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Epoch July 14, 2004 (JD 2453200.5) | |
| Aphelion distance: | 426.737 Gm (2.853 AU) |
| Perihelion distance: | 341.603 Gm (2.283 AU) |
| Semi-major axis: | 384.170 Gm (2.568 AU) |
| Eccentricity: | 0.111 |
| Orbital period: | 1503.127 d (4.12 a) |
| Avg. orbital speed: | 18.53 km/s |
| Mean anomaly: | 297.289° |
| Inclination: | 12.132° |
| Longitude of ascending node: | 215.437° |
| Argument of perihelion: | 289.057° |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions: | 15–20 km |
| Mass: | 0.5–1.1×1016 kg |
| Mean density: | ~2.7 g/cm³ (estimate)[1] |
| Equatorial surface gravity: | 0.006–0.007 m/s² |
| Escape velocity: | 0.009–0.012 km/s |
| Rotation period: | unknown |
| Albedo: | 0.06–0.11 |
| Temperature: | ~176 K max: 264K (-9° C) |
| Spectral type: | S-Type |
| Absolute magnitude: | 12.2 |
The asteroid 2685 Masursky is a main belt asteroid. It was discovered by Edward (Ted) Bowell in 1981. It was named after Harold Masursky (1923–1990), a planetary geologist at the U.S. Geological Survey, Flagstaff, who worked on numerous space missions.
Little was known about Masursky until the Cassini space probe, en route to Jupiter and Saturn, flew past it on 23 January 2000. Since Cassini passed the asteroid at a distance of 1.6 million kilometres (about four times the Earth-Moon distance), the images it returned showed nothing more than a dot. Nevertheless, Cassini was able to determine Masursky's size (about 15–20 km in diameter).
Masursky's orbit places it within the Eunomia family of S-type asteroids. Cassini's observations had cast some doubt on its composition, but later ground-based spectroscopy has confirmed its S-type spectrum [2].
[edit] References
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G. A. Krasinsky et al Hidden Mass in the Asteroid Belt, Icarus, Vol. 158, p. 98 (2002).
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D. Lazzaro, T. Mothé-Diniz, J. M. Carvano, C. A. Angeli, A. S. Betzler, M. Florczak, A. Cellino, M. Di Martino, A. Doressoundiram, M. A. Barucci, E. Dotto, P. Bendjoya (1999). "The Eunomia Family: A Visible Spectroscopic Survey". Icarus 142: 445.
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For a complete listing, see List of asteroids. See also Pronunciation of asteroid names and Meanings of asteroid names.
