113 Amalthea

113 Amalthea
Discovery
Discovered by Karl Theodor Robert Luther
Discovery date March 12, 1871
Designations
Named after
 Amalthea
 
Main belt
Orbital characteristics[1]
Epoch December 31, 2006 (JD 2454100.5)
Aphelion 386.645 Gm (2.585 AU)
Perihelion 324.208 Gm (2.167 AU)
355.426 Gm (2.376 AU)
Eccentricity 0.088
1337.627 d (3.66 a)
19.29 km/s
4.657°
Inclination 5.037°
123.592°
79.051°
Physical characteristics
Dimensions 46.1 km
Mass 1.0×1017 kg
0.0129 m/s²
0.0244 km/s
Temperature ~181 K
Spectral type
 S
8.74

    113 Amalthea is a fairly typical rocky main-belt asteroid orbiting in the inner regions of the belt. It was discovered by R. Luther on March 12, 1871. The name comes from Amalthea of Greek mythology. One of Jupiter's inner small satellites, unrelated to 113 Amalthea, is also called Amalthea.

    Amalthea is thought to be a fragment from the mantle of a Vesta-sized, 300–600 km diameter parent body that broke up around one billion years ago, with the other major remnant being 9 Metis.[2] The spectrum of 113 Amalthea reveals the presence of the mineral Olivine, a relatively rarity in the asteroid belt.[3][4]

    References

    1. ↑ Yeomans, Donald K., "113 Amalthea", JPL Small-Body Database Browser (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory), retrieved 2013-03-25.
    2. ↑ Kelley, Michael S.; Gaffey, Michael J. (March 2000), "9 Metis and 113 Amalthea: A Genetic Asteroid Pair", Icarus 35 (144): 27–38, Bibcode:2000Icar..144...27K, doi:10.1006/icar.1999.6266.
    3. ↑ Cloutis, E. A. (March 1993), "Olivine-rich asteroids, pallasitic olivine and olivine-metal mixtures: Comparisons of reflectance spectra", Lunar and Planetary Institute, Twenty-fourth Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. Part 1: A-F: 317–318, Bibcode:1993LPI....24..317C.
    4. ↑ Burbine, T. H. et al. (July 2000), "The Nature of Olivine Asteroids", Meteoritics & Planetary Science 35: A35, Bibcode:2000M&PSA..35R..35B.