56 Melete
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Discovery
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| Discovered by | Hermann Mayer Salomon Goldschmidt |
| Discovery date | September 9, 1857 |
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Designations
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| Minor planet category |
Main belt |
| Epoch December 31, 2006 (JD 2454100.5) | |
| Aphelion | 480.683 Gm (3.213 AU) |
| Perihelion | 295.717 Gm (1.977 AU) |
| Semi-major axis | 388.200 Gm (2.595 AU) |
| Eccentricity | 0.238 |
| Orbital period | 1526.839 d (4.18 a) |
| Average orbital speed | 18.22 km/s |
| Mean anomaly | 267.781° |
| Inclination | 8.072° |
| Longitude of ascending node | 193.478° |
| Argument of perihelion | 103.648° |
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Physical characteristics
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| Dimensions | 113.2 km |
| Mass | 1.5×1018 kg |
| Mean density | ? g/cm³ |
| Equatorial surface gravity | 0.0316 m/s² |
| Escape velocity | 0.0598 km/s |
| Rotation period | ? d |
| Albedo | 0.065 [1] |
| Temperature | ~173 K |
| Spectral type | P |
| Absolute magnitude | 8.31 |
56 Melete (mel'-i-tee, IPA: /ˈmɛlɨti/) is a large and dark main belt asteroid. It is a rather unusual class P asteroid, composition is probably organic rich silicates, carbon and anhydrous silicates, with possible internal water ice. It was discovered by H. Goldschmidt on September 9, 1857 and was named after Melete, the Muse of meditation in Greek mythology. So far two stellar occultations by Melete have been observed successfully (in 1997 and again in 2002).
[edit] References
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