259 Aletheia is a very large main-belt asteroid that was discovered by C. H. F. Peters on June 28, 1886, in Clinton, New York. It is named after the Greek goddess Aletheia.[2] This asteroid is composed of primitive carbonaceous materials and is very dark in colour, darker than coal.[citation needed]
Richard P. Binzel and Schelte Bus further added to the knowledge about this asteroid in a lightwave survey published in 2003. This project was known as Small Main-belt Asteroid Spectroscopic Survey, Phase II or SMASSII, which built on a previous survey of the main-belt asteroids. The visible-wavelength (0.435-0.925 micrometre) spectra data was gathered between August 1993 and March 1999.[3][4]
Lightcurve data has also been recorded by observers at the Antelope Hill Observatory, which has been designated as an official observatory by the Minor Planet Center.[5]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Carry, B. (December 2012), "Density of asteroids", Planetary and Space Science 73: 98-118, arXiv:1203.4336, Bibcode:2012P&SS...73...98C, doi:10.1016/j.pss.2012.03.009. See Table 1.
- ↑ Schmadel Lutz D. Dictionary of Minor Planet Names (fifth edition), Springer, 2003. ISBN 3-540-00238-3.
- ↑ Bus, S., Binzel, R. P. Small Main-belt Asteroid Spectroscopic Survey, Phase II. EAR-A-I0028-4-SBN0001/SMASSII-V1.0. NASA Planetary Data System, 2003.
- ↑ JPL Small-Body Database Browser
- ↑ Lightcurve Results
External links