43 Ariadne

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**43 Ariadne**
Discovery
Discovered by:	N. R. Pogson
Discovery date:	April 15, 1857
Alternative names:	none
Minor planet category:	Main belt (Flora family)
Orbital characteristics
Epoch November 26, 2005 (JD 2453700.5)
Aphelion distance:	384.954 Gm (2.573 AU)
Perihelion distance:	274.339 Gm (1.834 AU)
Semi-major axis:	329.646 G m (2.204 AU)
Eccentricity:	0.168
Orbital period:	1194.766 d (3.27 a)
Avg. orbital speed:	19.92 km/s
Mean anomaly:	101.582°
Inclination:	3.464°
Longitude of ascending node:	264.937°
Argument of perihelion:	15.948°
Physical characteristics
Dimensions:	95×60×50 km^[1][2][3]
Mass:	~4.0×10¹⁷ kg (estimate)
Mean density:	~2.7 g/cm³ (estimate)^[5]
Equatorial surface gravity:	~0.012 m/s² (estimate)
Escape velocity:	~0.034 km/s (estimate)
Rotation period:	0.2401 d ^[4]
Albedo:	0.274 ^[1]
Temperature:	~178 K max: 275K (+2° C)
Spectral type:	S-type asteroid
Absolute magnitude:	7.93

43 Ariadne (IPA: [ˌeɹiˈædni]) is a fairly large and bright main belt asteroid. It is the second-largest member of the Flora asteroid family. It was discovered by N. R. Pogson on April 15, 1857 and named after the Greek heroine Ariadne.

1 Characteristics
2 Aspects
3 Trivia
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Characteristics

Ariadne is very elongate (almost twice as long as its smallest dimension) and likely bi-lobed^[3] or at least very angular. It is a retrograde rotator, although its pole points almost parallel to the ecliptic towards ecliptic coordinates (β, λ) = (-15°, 235°) with a 10° uncertainty^[2]. This gives an axial tilt of about 105°.

[edit] Aspects

Stationary, retrograde	Opposition	Distance to Earth (AU)	Maximum brightness (mag)	Stationary, prograde	Conjunction to Sun
31 January 2004	17 March 2004	1.23086	10.4	1 May 2004	7 January 2005
6 September 2005	25 October 2005	1.27796	10.5	6 December 2005	20 June 2006
23 December 2006	10 February 2007	1.46428	11.0	31 March 2007	2 November 2007
25 July 2008	8 September 2008	0.98422	9.8	15 October 2008	20 May 2009
24 November 2009	13 January 2010	1.58015	11.1	4 March 2010	15 September2010
22 May 2011	28 June 2011	0.81561	8.9	3 August 2011	14 April 2012
27 October 2012	17 December 2012	1.57175	11.0	4 February 2013	10 August 2013
9 March 2014	19 April 2014	1.01943	9.8	30 May 2014	24 February 2015
30 September 2015	19 November 2015	1.43995	10.8	3 January 2016	10 July 2016
17 January 2017	5 March 2017	1.31117	10.6	21 April 2017	17 December 2017
26 August 2018	13 October 2018	1.19507	10.3	23 November 2018	12 June 2019
14 December 2019	2 February 2020	1.51164	11.0	22 March 2020	16 October 2020

[edit] Trivia

For reasons unknown, "Asteroid 43 Ariadne" was included in a list of names of supporters of the NASA spacecraft Stardust that was stored on a microchip within the spacecraft.

[edit] References

Supplemental IRAS Minor Planet Survey
M. Kaasalainen, J. Torppa & J. Piironen Models of Twenty Asteroids from Photometric Data, Icarus, Vol. 159, p. 369 (2002).
P. Tanga et al Asteroid observations with the Hubble Space Telescope, Astronomy & Astrophysics, Vol. 401, p. 733 (2003).
PDS lightcurve data
G. A. Krasinsky et al Hidden Mass in the Asteroid Belt, Icarus, Vol. 158, p. 98 (2002).