134 Sophrosyne

134 Sophrosyne
Discovery
Discovered by Karl Theodor Robert Luther
Discovery date September 27, 1873
Designations
Named after
Sophrosyne
Main belt
Orbital characteristics[1]
Epoch December 31, 2006 (JD 2454100.5)
Aphelion 428.174 Gm (2.862 AU)
Perihelion 338.780 Gm (2.265 AU)
383.477 Gm (2.563 AU)
Eccentricity 0.117
1499.059 d (4.10 a)
18.54 km/s
110.425°
Inclination 11.588°
346.213°
83.723°
Physical characteristics
Dimensions 112.188[2] km
Mass 2.0×1018 kg
0.0345 m/s²
0.0652 km/s
Albedo 0.0436 ± 0.0122[2]
Temperature ~174 K
Spectral type
C (Tholen)[2]
8.770[2]

    134 Sophrosyne is a large main-belt asteroid that was discovered by German astronomer Robert Luther on September 27, 1873, and was named after the concept of sophrosyne, Plato's term for 'moderation'. Classified as a C-type asteroid, it has an exceedingly dark surface and most probably a primitive carbonaceous composition.

    An occultation of a star by 134 Sophrosyne was observed November 24, 1980 in the United States. Timing information from this event allowed a diameter estimate of 110 km to be derived.[3]

    References

    1. Yeomans, Donald K., "134 Sophrosyne", JPL Small-Body Database Browser (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory), retrieved 2013-03-25.
    2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Pravec, P. et al. (May 2012), "Absolute Magnitudes of Asteroids and a Revision of Asteroid Albedo Estimates from WISE Thermal Observations", Asteroids, Comets, Meteors 2012, Proceedings of the conference held May 16-20, 2012 in Niigata, Japan (1667), Bibcode:2012LPICo1667.6089P.
    3. Taylor, G. E., "Progress in accurate determinations of diameters of minor planets", Asteroids, comets, meteors; Proceedings of the Meeting, Uppsala, Sweden, June 20-22, 1983: 107–109, Bibcode:1983acm..proc..107T.