1166 Sakuntala

1166 Sakuntala [1]
Discovery and designation
Discovered by Parchomenko, P.
Discovery date 1930-Jun-27
Epoch Orbital Elements at Epoch 2454400.5 (2007-Oct-27.0) TDB
Aphelion 3.0612355 AU
Perihelion 2.0111889 AU
Semi-major axis 2.5362122 AU
Eccentricity 0.2070108
Orbital period 1475.2880039 days
4.04 years
Mean anomaly 19.84872 °
Inclination 18.89406 °
Longitude of ascending node 106.78900 °
Argument of perihelion 189.15785 °
Dimensions diameter 28.74
Rotation period 6.30 h
Geometric albedo 0.6460  
Absolute magnitude (H) 8.80 mag

1166 Sakuntala is a main belt asteroid orbiting the Sun. Approximately 29 kilometers in diameter, it makes a revolution around the Sun once every 4 years. It completes one rotation once every 6 hours. It was discovered by Praskovjya Georgievna Parkhomenko on June 27, 1930. Its provisional designation was 1930 MA.[1]

During a perihelic opposition, when Sakuntala is only 1 AU from the Earth, it can get as bright as apparent magnitude 10.5, as it did on July 7th, 2007 and will occur on June 30th, 2011 when it will be at magnitude 10.7, being one of the latest discovered asteroids to become so bright to be seen on small telescopes.

References

  1. ^ a b "JPL Small-Body Database Browser". http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=1166. Retrieved October 17, 2007. 

External links

1165 Imprinetta•1166 Sakuntala• 1167 Dubiago
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