55 Pandora

55 Pandora

A three-dimensional model of 55 Pandora
based on its light curve.
Discovery
Discovered by George Mary Searle
Discovery site Albany, New York
Discovery date September 10, 1858
Designations
MPC designation (55) Pandora
Named after
 Pandora
Main belt
Orbital characteristics[1]
Epoch June 27, 2015
Aphelion 3.152 AU (471.5 Gm)
Perihelion 2.367 AU (354.1 Gm)
2.760 AU (412.9 Gm)
Eccentricity 0.142
4.58 yr (1,674 d)
17.84 km/s
61.834°
Inclination 7.186°
10.432°
3.944°
Proper orbital elements
78.471 deg / yr
4.58768 yr
(1675.651 d)
Physical characteristics
Dimensions 66.7 km
Mass 3.1×1017 kg
0.0186 m/s²
0.0353 km/s
4.8040 h [1]
Albedo 0.301 [1]
Temperature ~ 168 K
Spectral type
 E
7.7

    55 Pandora is a fairly large and very bright asteroid in the asteroid belt. Pandora was discovered by American astronomer and catholic priest George Mary Searle on September 10, 1858, from the Dudley Observatory near Albany, NY.[2] It was his first and only asteroid discovery.

    It is named after Pandora, the first woman in Greek mythology, who unwisely opened a box that released evil into the world. The name was apparently chosen by Blandina Dudley, widow of the founder of the Dudley Observatory, who had been involved in an acrimonious dispute with astronomer B. A. Gould. Gould felt that the name had an "apt significance".[3] The asteroid shares its name with Pandora, a moon of Saturn.

    Photometric observations of this asteroid at the Rozhen Observatory in Bulgaria during 2010 gave a light curve with a period of 4.7992 hours and a brightness variation of Δm=0.22 mag. This is consistent with a period of 4.804 hours and an amplitude of 0.24 obtained during a 1977 study.[4]

    Recent analysis has identified Pandora as the second-largest of the E-type asteroids, after 44 Nysa.

    See also

    References

    1. 1 2 3 "55 Pandora". JPL Small-Body Database Browser. NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
    2. ↑ "Numbered Minor Planets 1–5000", Discovery Circumstances, IAU Minor Planet center, retrieved 7 April 2013.
    3. ↑ Lutz D. Schmadel, Dictionary of Minor Planet Names, p.20.
    4. ↑ Radeva, V.; et al. (2011), "Rotation periods of the asteroids 55 Pandora, 78 Diana and 815 Coppelia", Bulgarian Astronomical Journal, 17, pp. 133–141, Bibcode:2012MPBu...39...57P.


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