324 Bamberga

324 Bamberga
Discovery
Discovered by Johann Palisa
Discovery date February 25, 1892
Designations
Pronunciation /bæmˈbɜrɡə/ bam-BUR-gə
Named after
 Bamberg
none
Main belt
Orbital characteristics
Epoch 30 January 2005 (JD 2453400.5)
Aphelion 537.241 Gm (3.591 AU)
Perihelion 265.576 Gm (1.775 AU)
401.409 Gm (2.683 AU)
Eccentricity 0.338
1605.397 d (4.4 a)
18.18 km/s
4.564°
Inclination 11.107°
328.058°
44.062°
Physical characteristics
Dimensions 234.67 ± 7.80 km[1]
229.4 ± 7.4 km (IRAS)[2][3]
Mass 1.1×1019 kg[4]
(1.03 ± 0.10) × 1019[1] kg
Mean density
 1.52 ± 0.20[1] g/cm3
0.055 m/s²
0.11 km/s
1.226 d[5]
(29.43 h)[2]
Albedo 0.0628[2][3]
Temperature ~172 K
Spectral type
 C-type asteroid[6]
6.82[2][3]

    324 Bamberga is one of the largest asteroids in the asteroid belt. It was discovered by Johann Palisa on February 25, 1892 in Vienna, making it one of the last large (diameter over 200 km) asteroids discovered. Apart from the near-Earth asteroid Eros, it was the last asteroid which is ever easily visible with binoculars to be discovered.

    Although its very high orbital eccentricity means its opposition magnitude varies greatly, at a rare opposition near perihelion Bamberga can reach a magnitude of +8.0,[7] which is as bright as Saturn's moon Titan. Such near-perihelion oppositions occur on a regular cycle every twenty-two years, with the last occurring in 2013 and the next in 2035, when attaining magnitude 8.1 on September 13. Its brightness at these rare near-perihelion oppositions makes Bamberga the brightest C-type asteroid, roughly one magnitude brighter than 10 Hygiea's maximum brightness of around +9.1. At such an opposition Bamberga can in fact be closer to Earth than any main-belt asteroid with magnitude above +9.5, getting as close as 0.78 AU. For comparison, 7 Iris never comes closer than 0.85 AU and 4 Vesta never closer than 1.13 AU (when it becomes visible to the naked eye in a light pollution-free sky).

    Overall Bamberga is the tenth brightest main-belt asteroid after, in order, Vesta, Pallas, Ceres, Iris, Hebe, Juno, Melpomene, Eunomia and Flora. Its high eccentricity (for comparison 36% higher than that of Pluto), though, means that at most oppositions other asteroids reach higher magnitudes.

    It has an unusually long rotation period among the large asteroids. Its spectral class is intermediate between the C-type and P-type asteroids.[6]

    10µ radiometric data collected from Kitt Peak in 1975 gave a diameter estimate of 255 km.[8] An occultation of Bamberga was observed on 8 December 1987, and gave a diameter of about 228 km, in agreement with IRAS results. In 1988 a search for satellites or dust orbiting this asteroid was performed using the UH88 telescope at the Mauna Kea Observatories, but the effort came up empty.[9]

    In fiction

    See Asteroids in fiction.

    References

    1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 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.
    2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 324 Bamberga". 2008-07-26 last obs. Retrieved 2008-11-25. Check date values in: |date= (help)
    3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Tedesco, E.F.; Noah, P.V.; Noah, M.; Price, S.D. (2004). "IRAS Minor Planet Survey. IRAS-A-FPA-3-RDR-IMPS-V6.0.". NASA Planetary Data System. Archived from the original on 11 March 2007. Retrieved 2007-03-15.
    4. ↑ Pitjeva, E. V. (2005). "High-Precision Ephemerides of Planets—EPM and Determination of Some Astronomical Constants" (PDF). Solar System Research 39 (3): 176. Bibcode:2005SoSyR..39..176P. doi:10.1007/s11208-005-0033-2.
    5. ↑ Harris, A. W.; Warner, B.D.; Pravec, P.; Eds. (2006). "Asteroid Lightcurve Derived Data. EAR-A-5-DDR-DERIVED-LIGHTCURVE-V8.0.". NASA Planetary Data System. Archived from the original on 2007-01-28. Retrieved 2007-03-15.
    6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Neese, C.; Ed. (2005). "Asteroid Taxonomy.EAR-A-5-DDR-TAXONOMY-V5.0.". NASA Planetary Data System. Archived from the original on 2007-03-10. Retrieved 2007-03-15.
    7. ↑ Donald H. Menzel and Jay M. Pasachoff (1983). A Field Guide to the Stars and Planets (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin. p. 391. ISBN 0-395-34835-8.
    8. ↑ Morrison, D.; Chapman, C. R. (March 1976), "Radiometric diameters for an additional 22 asteroids", Astrophysical Journal 204: 934–939, Bibcode:2008mgm..conf.2594S, doi:10.1142/9789812834300_0469.
    9. ↑ Gradie, J.; Flynn, L. (March 1988), "A Search for Satellites and Dust Belts Around Asteroids: Negative Results", Abstracts of the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference 19: 405–406, Bibcode:1988LPI....19..405G.