61 Danaë
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| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by: | H. Goldschmidt |
| Discovery date: | September 9, 1860 |
| Alternative names: | A917 SM; 1953 RL1 |
| Minor planet category: | Main belt |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Epoch June 14, 2006 (JD 2453900.5) | |
| Aphelion distance: | 520.969 Gm (3.482 AU) |
| Perihelion distance: | 371.280 Gm (2.482 AU) |
| Semi-major axis: | 446.125 Gm (2.982 AU) |
| Eccentricity: | 0.168 |
| Orbital period: | 1881.025 d (5.15 a) |
| Avg. orbital speed: | 17.13 km/s |
| Mean anomaly: | 91.103° |
| Inclination: | 18.218° |
| Longitude of ascending node: | 333.774° |
| Argument of perihelion: | 13.831° |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions: | 82.0 km |
| Mass: | 3.2×1017 kg |
| Mean density: | 1.1 g/cm³ |
| Equatorial surface gravity: | 0.0126 m/s² |
| Escape velocity: | 0.0322 km/s |
| Rotation period: | 0.4771 d (11.45 h) [1] |
| Albedo: | 0.2224±0.025 [2] |
| Temperature: | ~155 K |
| Spectral type: | S |
| Absolute magnitude: | 7.68 |
61 Danaë (dan'-a-yee) is a quite large, rocky Main belt asteroid. It was discovered by H. Goldschmidt on September 9, 1860 and named after Danae, the mother of Perseus in Greek mythology.
A satellite has been suggested in 1985 based on lightcurve data. [3] The primary's ellipsoid is then 85×80×75 km, and 101 km away would be the moon, measuring 55×30×30 km. The density of both would be 1.1 g/cm³.
[edit] Trivia
- It is the lowest-numbered asteroid with diacritical characters in its official name.
[edit] Reference
- A. Cellino, R. Pannunzio, V. Zappalà, P. Farinella, and P. Paolicchi, 1985, Do we observe light curves of binary asteroids?, Astronomy and Astrophysics, Vol. 144, No. 2, pp. 355–362.
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|---|---|---|
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| List of asteroids | ||
Vulcanoids · Near-Earth asteroids · Main belt · Jupiter Trojans · Centaurs · Damocloids · Comets · Trans-Neptunians (Kuiper belt • Scattered disc • Oort cloud)
For other objects and regions, see Asteroid groups and families, Binary asteroids, Asteroid moons and the Solar System.
For a complete listing, see List of asteroids. See also Pronunciation of asteroid names and Meanings of asteroid names.
