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Discovery
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| Discovered by | H. Goldschmidt |
| Discovery date | October 26, 1854 |
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Designations
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| Named after | Pomona |
| Alternate name(s) | A899 QA; A911 KF; 1945 RB; 1949 SH; 1950 YD |
| Minor planet category |
Main belt |
| Epoch December 31, 2006 (JD 2454100.5) | |
| Aphelion | 419.316 Gm (2.803 AU) |
| Perihelion | 354.967 Gm (2.373 AU) |
| Semi-major axis | 387.142 Gm (2.588 AU) |
| Eccentricity | 0.083 |
| Orbital period | 1520.602 d (4.16 a) |
| Average orbital speed | 18.48 km/s |
| Mean anomaly | 46.086° |
| Inclination | 5.530° |
| Longitude of ascending node | 220.574° |
| Argument of perihelion | 339.680° |
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Physical characteristics
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| Dimensions | 80.8 km |
| Mass | ~5.5×1017 kg |
| Mean density | 2.0? g/cm³ |
| Equatorial surface gravity | 0.0226? m/s² |
| Escape velocity | 0.0427? km/s |
| Rotation period | 0.3937 d 9.448 h [1] |
| Albedo | 0.10 |
| Temperature | ~173 K |
| Spectral type | S |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 7.56 |
32 Pomona ( /pəˈmoʊnə/; Latin: Pōmōna) is a main-belt asteroid.
Pomona was discovered by H. Goldschmidt on October 26, 1854. It is named after Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit trees.
Australian amateur astronomer Jonathan Bradshaw recorded an unusual asteroid occultation by 32 Pomona on 16 August 2008. The expected maximum duration of the occultation was 7.1 secs; however, the video recording shows two separate occultations of equal depth each lasting 1.2 seconds, separated by 0.8 secs. Those durations convert to chord lengths at the asteroid of 15 km, 10 km, and 15 km – for a total length of 40 km. The IRAS diameter for Pomona is 86.3 km. The most likely explanation for this observation is that the asteroid is either binary (including a contact binary), or is a unitary asteroid with a significant concave region on its surface. The video of this occultation can be viewed on YouTube.
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