93 Minerva
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | James Craig Watson |
| Discovery site | Ann Arbor, Michigan |
| Discovery date | August 24, 1867 |
| Designations | |
| Named after | Minerva |
| Alternative names | 1949 QN2, A902 DA |
| Minor planet category | Main belt |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Epoch November 4, 2013 | |
| Aphelion | 3.1439 AU (470.32 Gm) |
| Perihelion | 2.3655 AU (353.87 Gm) |
| Semi-major axis | 2.7546 AU (412.08 Gm) |
| Eccentricity | 0.1413 |
| Orbital period | 1669.951 d (4.57 a) |
| Average orbital speed | ~17.86 km/s |
| Mean anomaly | 46.0555° |
| Inclination | 8.55996° |
| Longitude of ascending node | 4.07627° |
| Argument of perihelion | 274.913° |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions |
141.55±4 km (87.96±2.5 mi) (IRAS)[1] 156km (spherical)[2] |
| Mass | 3.7×1018 kg (assumed)[3] |
| Mean density | 1.9 g/cm³[2] |
| Equatorial surface gravity | 4.139 cm/s2 (0.004221 g)[4] |
| Escape velocity | 8.035 cm/s[4] |
| Rotation period | 5.982 hr[1] |
| Albedo | 0.073[1] |
| Temperature | ~168 K |
| Spectral type |
C[1] G?[2] |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 7.8[1] |
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93 Minerva (/mɨˈnɜrvə/ mi-NUR-və) is a large trinary main-belt asteroid. It is a C-type asteroid, meaning that it has a dark surface and possibly a primitive carbonaceous composition. It was discovered by J. C. Watson on August 24, 1867, and named after Minerva, the Roman equivalent of Athena, goddess of wisdom. An occultation of a star by Minerva was observed in France, Spain and the United States on November 22, 1982. An occultation diameter of ~170 km was measured from the observations. Since then two more occultations have been observed, which give an estimated mean diameter of ~150 km for diameter.[5][6]
Satellite system
On August 16, 2009, at 13:36 UT, the Keck Observatory's adaptive optics system revealed that the asteroid 93 Minerva possesses 2 small moons.[7] They are 4 and 3 km in diameter and the projected separations from Minerva correspond to 630 km (8.8 x Rprimary) and 380 km (5.2 x Rprimary) respectively.[7] They have been named S/(93) 1 Aegis and S/(93) 2 Gorgoneion.[8]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 93 Minerva". Jet Propulsion Laboratory. 2011-12-29 last obs. Retrieved 2012-01-28.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Franck Marchis (October 7, 2011). "Is the triple Asteroid Minerva a baby-Ceres?". NASA blog (Cosmic Diary). Retrieved 2012-01-28.
- ↑ Using a spherical radius of 78 km; volume of a sphere * density of 1.9 g/cm³ yields a mass (m=d*v) of 3.77E+18 kg
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "HEC:Exoplanets Calculator/Planet Density, Surface Gravity, and Escape Velocity". Planetary Habitability Laboratory. University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo. Retrieved 10 January 2014.
- ↑ The occultation of AG+29°398 by 93 Minerva. R. L. Millis, L. H. Wasserman, E. Bowell, O. G. Franz, R. NyeW. OsbornA. Klemola
- ↑ Observed minor planet occultation events, version of 2005 July 26
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Franck Marchis (2009-08-21). "The discovery of a new triple asteroid, (93) Minerva". Cosmic Diary Blog. Retrieved 2009-10-25.
- ↑ M.P.C. 86284
External links
- Orbital simulation from JPL (Java) / Ephemeris
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