108 Hecuba

108 Hecuba
Discovery
Discovered by R. Luther
Discovery date April 2, 1869
Designations
Named after
 Hecuba
Main belt
Orbital characteristics[1]
Epoch November 26, 2005 (JD 2453700.5)
Aphelion 510.261 Gm (3.411 AU)
Perihelion 459.401 Gm (3.071 AU)
484.831 Gm (3.241 AU)
Eccentricity 0.052
2131.062 d (5.83 a)
241.477°
Inclination 4.247°
350.375°
191.105°
Physical characteristics
Dimensions 65 km
Mass ~3.9×1017 kg (estimate)
Mean density
 ~2.7 g/cm³ (estimate)[2]
~0.040 km/s (estimate)
0.60 d or 1.20 d[3]
Albedo 0.243
Surface temp. min mean max
Kelvin ~148 215
Celsius -58
Spectral type
 S[4]

    108 Hecuba is a fairly large and bright main-belt asteroid. It was discovered by Karl Theodor Robert Luther on April 2, 1869,[5] and named after Hecuba, wife of King Priam in the legends of the Trojan War in Greek Mythology. It became the first asteroid discovered to orbit near a 2:1 mean-motion resonance with the planet Jupiter,[6] and is the namesake of the Hecuba group of asteroids.[7]

    In the Tholen classification system, it is categorized as a stony S-type asteroid, while the Bus asteroid taxonomy system lists it as an Sw asteroid.[8] Observations performed at the Palmer Divide Observatory in Colorado Springs, Colorado in during 2007 produced a light curve with a period of 17.859 ± 0.005 hours with a brightness range of 0.11 ± 0.02 in magnitude.[9]

    Hecuba orbits within the Hygiea family of asteroids but is not otherwise related to other family members because it has a silicate composition; Hygieas are dark C-type asteroids.

    References

    1. ↑ Yeomans, Donald K., "108 Hecuba", JPL Small-Body Database Browser (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory), retrieved 2013-03-25.
    2. ↑ Krasinsky, G. A. et al. (July 2002), "Hidden Mass in the Asteroid Belt", Icarus 158 (1): 98–105, Bibcode:2002Icar..158...98K, doi:10.1006/icar.2002.6837. See appendix A.
    3. ↑ Harris, A.W.; Warner, B.D.; Pravec, P., eds. (2012), "Lightcurve Derived Data", Planetary Data System (NASA), retrieved 2013-03-22.
    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. See appendix A.
    5. ↑ "Numbered Minor Planets 1–5000", Discovery Circumstances (IAU Minor Planet center), retrieved 2013-04-07.
    6. ↑ Brož, M.; Vokrouhlický, D.; Roig, F.; Nesvorný, D.; Bottke, W. F.; Morbidelli, A. (June 2005), "Yarkovsky origin of the unstable asteroids in the 2/1 mean motion resonance with Jupiter", Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 359 (4), Bibcode:2005MNRAS.359.1437B, doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2005.08995.x.
    7. ↑ 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.
    8. ↑ DeMeo, Francesca E. et al. (July 2009), "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 2013-04-08. See appendix A.
    9. ↑ Warner, Brian D. (September 2007), "Asteroid Lightcurve Analysis at the Palmer Divide Observatory", Bulletin of the Minor Planets Section of the Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers, Bibcode:2007MPBu...34...72W.