Discovery[1]
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Discovered by | Christian Heinrich Friedrich Peters |
Discovery site | Litchfield Observatory |
Discovery date | August 22, 1868 |
Designations
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MPC designation | 102 |
Named after | Miriam |
Minor planet category |
main belt [2] |
Epoch November 30, 2008 | |
Ap | 3.3332 AU |
Peri | 1.9929 AU |
Semi-major axis | 2.66303 AU |
Eccentricity | 0.251655 |
Orbital period | 1587.31 days (4.35 years) |
Mean anomaly | 108.084° |
Inclination | 5.176° |
Longitude of ascending node | 210.916° |
Argument of peri | 147.441° |
Physical characteristics
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Dimensions | 83.00 kilometres (51.57 mi) ± 1.9 kilometres (1.2 mi) Mean diameter[4] |
Rotation period | 15.789 hours [5] |
Albedo | 0.0507 ± 0.002 [4] |
Spectral type | P (Tholen classification) [6] C (SMASSII classification) [6] |
Absolute magnitude (H) | 9.26 [7] |
102 Miriam is a moderately large, very dark main belt asteroid. It was discovered by C. H. F. Peters on August 22, 1868 from the Litchfield Observatory.[1]
Peters named the asteroid after Miriam, the sister of Moses in the Old Testament. This caused some controversy, because at the time, asteroids were expected to be named after mythological figures, and the devout would not regard Biblical figures as such. According to fellow astronomer Edward S. Holden, Peters deliberately chose a name from the Bible so as to annoy an overly pious theology professor of his acquaintance.[8]
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