74 Galatea

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74 Galatea
Discovery
Discovered by Ernst Wilhelm Tempel
Discovery date August 29, 1862
Designations
Alternative names  
Minor planet
category
Main belt
Epoch December 31, 2006 (JD 2454100.5)
Aphelion 515.376 Gm (3.445 AU)
Perihelion 315.937 Gm (2.112 AU)
Semi-major axis 415.657 Gm (2.778 AU)
Eccentricity 0.240
Orbital period 1691.658 d (4.63 a)
Average orbital speed 17.61 km/s
Mean anomaly 36.838°
Inclination 4.075°
Longitude of ascending node 197.313°
Argument of perihelion 174.519°
Physical characteristics
Dimensions 118.7 km
Mass 1.8×1018 kg
Mean density ? g/cm³
Equatorial surface gravity 0.0332 m/s²
Escape velocity 0.0628 km/s
Rotation period ? d
Albedo 0.043 [1]
Temperature ~167 K
Spectral type C[2]
Absolute magnitude 8.66

74 Galatea (gal'-ə-tee'-ə, IPA: /ˈɡæləˈtiːə/) is a large Main belt asteroid. Its surface is very dark in color. Galatea was found by the prolific comet discoverer Ernst Tempel on August 29, 1862 in Marseilles, France. It was his third asteroid discovery. It is named after one of the two Galateas in Greek mythology. A stellar occultation by Galatea was observed on September 8, 1987. The name Galatea has also been given to one of Neptune's satellites.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Asteroid Data Sets
  2. ^ *JPL Small-Body Database Browser