234 Barbara

234 Barbara
Discovery
Discovered by C. H. F. Peters
Discovery date August 12, 1883
Designations
1942 RL1, 1953 RE,
1975 XP
Main belt
Orbital characteristics[1]
Epoch 30 January 2005 (JD 2453400.5)
Aphelion 444.054 Gm (2.968 AU)
Perihelion 269.817 Gm (1.804 AU)
356.935 Gm (2.386 AU)
Eccentricity 0.244
1346.128 d (3.69 a)
19.28 km/s
333.976°
Inclination 15.352°
144.648°
192.212°
Physical characteristics
Dimensions 45.62 ± 1.93[2] km
Mass (0.44 ± 1.45) × 1018[2] kg
26.5 h
Albedo 0.227
Spectral type
S
9.02

    234 Barbara is a main belt asteroid that was discovered by German-American astronomer Christian Heinrich Friedrich Peters on August 12, 1883 in Clinton, New York. It is classified as a stony S-type asteroid based upon its spectrum. The mean diameter is estimated as 45.6 km.[2]

    Polarimetric study of this asteroid reveals anomalous properties that suggests the regolith consists of a mixture of low and high albedo material. This may have been caused by fragmentation of an asteroid substrate with the spectral properties of CO3/CV3 carbonaceous chondrites.[3]

    Possible Binary Nature

    Observations made in 2009 with ESO's Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) suggested that 234 Barbara may be a binary asteroid,[4] although a paper published in 2015 states that "the VLTI observations can be explained without the presence of a large satellite"[5]

    References

    1. Yeomans, Donald K., "234 Barbara", JPL Small-Body Database Browser (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory), retrieved 2013-03-30.
    2. 1 2 3 Carry, B. (December 2012), "Density of asteroids", Planetary and Space Science 73, pp. 98–118, arXiv:1203.4336, Bibcode:2012P&SS...73...98C, doi:10.1016/j.pss.2012.03.009. See Table 1.
    3. Gil-Hutton, R.; et al. (April 2008), "New cases of unusual polarimetric behavior in asteroids", Astronomy and Astrophysics 482 (1), pp. 309–314, Bibcode:2008A&A...482..309G, doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20078965.
    4. "Powerful New Technique to Measure Asteroids' Sizes and Shapes". European Southern Observatory. Archived from the original on 19 December 2015. Retrieved 19 December 2015.
    5. Tanga, P; et al. "The non-convex shape of (234) Barbara, the first Barbarian". arXiv:1502.00460.

    External links


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