106 Dione

106 Dione
Discovery
Discovered by James Craig Watson
Discovery date October 10, 1868
Designations
Named after
 Dione
Main belt
Orbital characteristics[1]
Epoch December 31, 2006 (JD 2454100.5)
Aphelion 556.376 Gm (3.719 AU)
Perihelion 391.585 Gm (2.618 AU)
473.981 Gm (3.168 AU)
Eccentricity 0.174
2059.923 d (5.64 a)
16.61 km/s
161.899°
Inclination 4.616°
62.400°
329.534°
Physical characteristics
Dimensions 147.17 ± 3.34[2] km
Mass (3.06 ± 1.54) × 1018[2] kg
Mean density
 1.83 ± 0.92[2] g/cm3
0.0410 m/s²
0.0775 km/s
16.26 ± 0.02[3] h
Temperature ~156 K
Spectral type
 G (Tholen)
Cgh (Bus)[4]
7.41

    106 Dione is a large main-belt asteroid. It probably has a composition similar to 1 Ceres. It was discovered by J. C. Watson on October 10, 1868,[5] and named after Dione, a Titaness in Greek mythology who was sometimes said to have been the mother of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty. It is listed as a member of the Hecuba group of asteroids that orbit near the 2:1 mean-motion resonance with Jupiter.[6]

    Dione was observed to occult a dim star on January 19, 1983 by observers in Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands. A diameter of 147 ± 3 km was deduced,[7] closely matching the value acquired by the IRAS satellite.

    Measurements made with the IRAS observatory give a diameter of 169.92 ± 7.86 km and a geometric albedo of 0.07 ± 0.01. By comparison, the MIPS photometer on the Spitzer Space Telescope gives a diameter of 168.72 ± 8.89 km and a geometric albedo of 0.07 ± 0.01. When the asteroid was observed occulting a star, the results showed a diameter of 176.7 ± 0.4 km.[8]

    Photometric observations of this asteroid collected during 2004–2005 show a rotation period of 16.26 ± 0.02 hours with a brightness variation of 0.08 ± 0.02 magnitude.[3]

    One of Saturn's satellites is also named Dione.

    References

    1. ↑ Yeomans, Donald K., "106 Dione", JPL Small-Body Database Browser (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory), retrieved 2013-03-25.
    2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 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.
    3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Pray, Donald P. (September 2005), "Lightcurve analysis of asteroids 106, 752, 847, 1057, 1630, 1670, 1927 1936, 2426, 2612, 2647, 4087, 5635, 5692, and 6235", Bulletin of the Minor Planets Section of the Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers 32 (3): 48–51, Bibcode:2005MPBu...32...48P.
    4. ↑ DeMeo, Francesca E. et al. (2011), "An extension of the Bus asteroid taxonomy into the near-infrared", Icarus 202 (1): 160–180, Bibcode:2009Icar..202..160D, doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2009.02.005, retrieved 2013-03-22. See appendix A.
    5. ↑ "Numbered Minor Planets 1–5000", Discovery Circumstances (IAU Minor Planet center), retrieved 2013-04-07.
    6. ↑ McDonald, Sophia Levy (June 1948), "General perturbations and mean elements, with representations of 35 minor planets of the Hecuba group", Astronomical Journal 53: 199, Bibcode:1948AJ.....53..199M, doi:10.1086/106097.
    7. ↑ Kristensen, L. K. (1984), "The diameter of (106) Dione", Astronomische Nachrichten 305 (4): 207–211, Bibcode:1984AN....305..207K.
    8. ↑ Ryan, Erin Lee et al. (April 2012), "The Kilometer-Sized Main Belt Asteroid Population as Revealed by Spitzer", eprint arXiv, arXiv:1204.1116, Bibcode:2012arXiv1204.1116R.