72 Feronia

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72 Feronia
Discovery
Discovered by Christian Heinrich Friedrich Peters
Discovery date May 29, 1861
Designations
Alternative names  
Minor planet category Main belt
Orbital characteristics
Epoch December 31, 2006 (JD 2454100.5)
Aphelion 379.895 Gm (2.539 AU)
Perihelion 298.159 Gm (1.993 AU)
Semi-major axis 339.027 Gm (2.266 AU)
Eccentricity 0.121
Orbital period 1246.123 d (3.41 a)
Average orbital speed 19.71 km/s
Mean anomaly 146.950°
Inclination 5.417°
Longitude of ascending node 208.137°
Argument of perihelion 102.608°
Physical characteristics
Dimensions 83.95 ± 4.02[1] km
Mass (3.32 ± 8.49) × 1018[1] kg
Mean density 10.71 ± 27.44[1] g/cm3
Equatorial surface gravity 0.0241 m/s²
Escape velocity 0.0455 km/s
Albedo 0.063 [2]
Temperature ~185 K
Spectral type TDG[3]
Absolute magnitude (H) 8.94

    72 Feronia (/fəˈrniə/ fə-ROH-nee-ə) is a quite large and dark main belt asteroid. It was the first asteroid discovery by C. H. F. Peters, on May 29, 1861 from Hamilton College, New York State. It was initially thought that Peters had merely seen the already known asteroid 66 Maja, but T.H. Safford showed that it was a new body. Safford named it after Feronia, a Roman fertility goddess.[4]

    References

    1. 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.
    2. Asteroid Data Sets
    3. Schmadel, Lutz (2003). Dictionary of minor planet names (fifth ed.). Germany: Springer. p. 22. ISBN 3-540-00238-3. Retrieved 2008-12-31. 


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