250 Bettina is a large main belt asteroid that was discovered by Austrian astronomer Johann Palisa on September 3, 1885 in Vienna. It was named in honour of Baroness Bettina von Rothschild, the wife of the prominent Viennese banker Albert Salomon von Rothschild who had bought the naming rights for £50.[3] Based upon the spectrum, it is classified as an M-type asteroid.
In 1988, the asteroid was observed from the Collurania-Teramo Observatory, allowing a light curve to be produced that showed "an irregular behavior with a deeper minimum and a narrower maximum". The data showed a rotation period of 5.055 hours and a brightness variation of 0.17 ± 0.01 in magnitude. The ratio of the lengths of the major to minor axes for this asteroid were found to be 1.51 ± 0.03.[2]
References
- ↑ Yeomans, Donald K., "250 Bettina", JPL Small-Body Database Browser (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory), retrieved 2013-03-25.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Dotto, E. et al. (June 1992), "M-type asteroids - Rotational properties of 16 objects", Astronomy and Astrophysics Supplement Series 95 (2): 195–211, Bibcode:1992A&AS...95..195D.
- ↑ Observatory, vol. 8, p. 63, 1885 & vol. 9, p. 142, 1886; see also The Guinness Book of Astronomy Facts and Feats Patrick Moore page 96 ISBN 0-900424-76-1
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