78 Diana

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

78 Diana
Discovery
Discovered by Karl Theodor Robert Luther
Discovery date March 15, 1865
Designations
Alternative names  
Minor planet
category
Main belt
Epoch December 31, 2006 (JD 2454100.5)
Aphelion 473.182 Gm (3.163 AU)
Perihelion 310.686 Gm (2.077 AU)
Semi-major axis 391.934 Gm (2.620 AU)
Eccentricity 0.207
Orbital period 1548.922 d (4.24 a)
Average orbital speed 18.20 km/s
Mean anomaly 353.808°
Inclination 8.688°
Longitude of ascending node 333.582°
Argument of perihelion 151.423°
Physical characteristics
Dimensions 120.6 km
Mass 1.8×1018 kg
Mean density ? g/cm³
Equatorial surface gravity 0.0337 m/s²
Escape velocity 0.0638 km/s
Rotation period ? d
Albedo 0.071 [1]
Temperature ~172 K
Spectral type C
Absolute magnitude 8.09

78 Diana (dye-an'-a) is a large and dark main belt asteroid. Its composition is carbonaceous and primitive. It was discovered by Robert Luther on March 15, 1863 and named after Diana, Roman goddess of the hunt. 78 Diana occulted a star on September 4, 1980. A diameter of 116 km was measured, closely matching the value given by the IRAS satellite.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Asteroid Data Sets