61 Danaë

61 Danaë
Discovery
Discovered by H. Goldschmidt
Discovery date September 9, 1860
Designations
Named after
Danaë
A917 SM; 1953 RL1
Main belt
Orbital characteristics
Epoch June 14, 2006 (JD 2453900.5)
Aphelion 520.969 Gm (3.482 AU)
Perihelion 371.280 Gm (2.482 AU)
446.125 Gm (2.982 AU)
Eccentricity 0.168
1881.025 d (5.15 a)
17.13 km/s
91.103°
Inclination 18.218°
333.774°
13.831°
Physical characteristics
Dimensions 82.52 ± 2.73[1] km
Mass (2.89 ± 2.78) × 1018[1] kg
Mean density
9.81 ± 9.49[1] g/cm3
0.0126 m/s²
0.0322 km/s
0.4771 d (11.45 h)
Albedo 0.2224±0.025
Temperature ~155 K
Spectral type
S
7.68

    61 Danaë (/ˈdænəj/ DAN-ə-yee or /dəˈn.ə/ də-NAY) is a moderately large, rocky main belt asteroid. It was discovered by Hermann Goldschmidt on September 9, 1860 from his balcony in Paris.

    Goldschmidt was ill when asked to name the asteroid, and requested his fellow asteroid-hunter Robert Luther to name it instead. Luther chose to name it after Danaë, the mother of Perseus in Greek mythology.[2] Danaë was the first asteroid to have a diacritical character in its official name.

    In 1985, a study of lightcurve data suggested that Danaë may have a moon. If so, the main body would be an ellipsoid measuring 85×80×75 km, and the moon would orbit 101 km away, measuring 55×30×30 km. The density of both would be 1.1 g/cm³.

    References

    1. 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.
    2. Schmadel, Lutz (2003). Dictionary of minor planet names (fifth ed.). Germany: Springer. p. 21. ISBN 3-540-00238-3. Retrieved 2008-12-29.

    External links


    This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, January 29, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.