20 Massalia

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20 Massalia
A112.M119.shape.png
Lightcurve-based 3D-model of Massalia
Discovery [1]
Discovered by A. de Gasparis
Discovery site Naples Obs.
Discovery date19 September 1852
Designations
(20) Massalia
Pronunciation /mæˈseɪliə/ [2]
Named after
 Marseille (French city) [3]
Massilia /mæˈsɪliə/ [4]
main belt [1] [5]  · Massalia [6]
Adjectives Massalian /mæˈseɪliən/ [2]
Orbital characteristics [5]
Epoch 23 March 2018 (JD 2458200.5)
Uncertainty parameter 0
Observation arc 164.08 yr (59,929 d)
Aphelion 2.7514 AU
Perihelion 2.0662 AU
2.4088 AU
Eccentricity 0.1422
3.74 yr (1,366 d)
12.443°
0° 15m 48.96s / day
Inclination 0.7087°
206.11°
2021-Nov-04
256.58°
Physical characteristics
Dimensions160×145×132 km [7]
160×145×130 km [8]
Mean diameter
145.50±9.3 km [9]
Mass 5.2×1018 kg [10]
5.67×1018 kg [7]
Mean density
3.54±0.85 g/cm3 [7]
8.098  h [11]
0.210 [9]
Tholen = S [5]
SMASS = S [5]
8.3 [12] to 12.0
6.50 [5] [11]
0.186" to 0.058"

    Massalia (minor planet designation: 20 Massalia) is a stony asteroid and the parent body of the Massalia family located in the inner region of the asteroid belt, approximately 145 kilometers (90 miles) in diameter. Discovered by Italian astronomer Annibale de Gasparis on 19 September 1852, it was named for the Latin name of the French city of Marseille, from which the independent discover Jean Chacornac sighted it the following night. [3] It was the first asteroid that was not assigned an iconic symbol by its discoverer. [13]

    Contents

    It came to opposition 179 degrees from the Sun on 16 June 2023, [14] and came to aphelion (farthest distance from the Sun) on 17 September 2023.[ needs update ]

    Classification and orbit

    Massalia is the namesake and the parent body of the Massalia family ( 404 ), a very large inner belt asteroid family consisting of stony asteroids with very low inclinations. [6] [15] : 23  It is by far the largest body in this family. The remaining family members are fragments ejected by a cratering event on Massalia. [16]

    It orbits the Sun in the inner main-belt at a distance of 2.1–2.8  AU once every 3 years and 9 months (1,366 days; semi-major axis of 2.41 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.14 and an inclination of 1° with respect to the ecliptic. [5]

    Physical characteristics

    Massalia has an above-average density for S-type asteroids, similar to the density of silicate rocks. As such, it appears to be a solid unfractured body, a rarity among asteroids of its size. Apart from the few largest bodies over 400 km in diameter, such as 1 Ceres and 4 Vesta, most asteroids appear to have been significantly fractured, or are even rubble piles. In 1998, Bange estimated Massalia to have a mass of 5.2×1018 kg assuming that 4 Vesta has 1.35×10−10 solar mass. [10] The calculation of the mass of Massalia is dependent on the mass of 4 Vesta and perturbation of 44 Nysa. [10]

    Light curve analysis indicates that Massalia's pole points towards ecliptic coordinates either (β, λ) = (45°, 10°) or (β, λ) = (45°, 190°) with a 10° uncertainty. [8] This gives an axial tilt of 45° in both cases. The shape reconstruction from light curves has been described as quite spherical with large planar, nonconvex parts of the surface.

    In 1988 there was a search for satellites or dust orbiting this asteroid using the UH88 telescope at the Mauna Kea Observatories, but none were found. [17]

    In February 2024, water molecules were discovered on 20 Massalia, alongside 7 Iris, marking the first time water molecules were detected on asteroids. [18] [19]

    Discovery

    Massalia was discovered on 19 September 1852, by Annibale de Gasparis at Naples Observatory in Italy, and also found independently the next night by Jean Chacornac at Marseilles Observatory, France. It was Chacornac's discovery that was announced first. In the nineteenth century the variant spelling Massilia was often used. Asteroids discovered prior to Massalia were assigned iconic symbols, like the ones traditionally used to designate the planets. However, astronomers had begun to phase out this practice with the discovery of 16 Psyche in March 1852, and 20 Massalia (being the first object in the Solar System with a non-mythological name) [3] was the first asteroid that was not assigned an iconic symbol.

    Related Research Articles

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">16 Psyche</span> Metallic main-belt asteroid

    16 Psyche is a large M-type asteroid, which was discovered by the Italian astronomer Annibale de Gasparis, on 17 March 1852 and named after the Greek goddess Psyche. The prefix "16" signifies that it was the sixteenth minor planet in order of discovery. It is the largest and most massive of the M-type asteroids, and one of the dozen most massive asteroids. It has a mean diameter of approximately 220 kilometers (140 mi) and contains about one percent of the mass of the asteroid belt. It was thought to be the exposed core of a protoplanet, but recent observations cast doubt on that hypothesis. Psyche will be explored by NASA, with a spacecraft of the same name, marking the first time a manmade object will journey to a metallic asteroid, launched on 13 October 2023, with an expected arrival in 2029.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">3 Juno</span> Asteroid in the asteroid belt

    Juno is a large asteroid in the asteroid belt. Juno was the third asteroid discovered, in 1804, by German astronomer Karl Harding. It is one of the twenty largest asteroids and one of the two largest stony (S-type) asteroids, along with 15 Eunomia. It is estimated to contain 1% of the total mass of the asteroid belt.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">5 Astraea</span> Large asteroid

    Astraea is an asteroid in the asteroid belt. Its surface is highly reflective and its composition is probably a mixture of nickel–iron with silicates of magnesium and iron. It is an S-type asteroid in the Tholen classification system.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">45 Eugenia</span> Asteroid with 2 moons

    Eugenia is a large asteroid of the asteroid belt. It is famed as one of the first asteroids to be found to have a moon orbiting it. It was also the second triple asteroid to be discovered, after 87 Sylvia.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">7 Iris</span> Large main-belt asteroid

    Iris is a large main-belt asteroid and possible remnant planetesimal orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter. It is the fourth-brightest object in the asteroid belt. 7 Iris is classified as an S-type asteroid, meaning that it has a stony composition.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">8 Flora</span> Large main-belt asteroid

    Flora is a large, bright main-belt asteroid. It is the innermost large asteroid: no asteroid closer to the Sun has a diameter above 25 kilometres, and not until 20-km 149 Medusa was discovered was an asteroid known to orbit at a closer mean distance. It is the seventh-brightest asteroid with a mean opposition magnitude of +8.7. Flora can reach a magnitude of +8.1 at a favorable opposition near perihelion, such as occurred in November 2020 when it was 0.88 AU from Earth.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">9 Metis</span> Main-belt asteroid

    Metis is one of the larger main-belt asteroids. It is composed of silicates and metallic nickel-iron, and may be the core remnant of a large asteroid that was destroyed by an ancient collision. Metis is estimated to contain just under half a percent of the total mass of the asteroid belt.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">10 Hygiea</span> Major asteroid

    Hygiea is a major asteroid located in the main asteroid belt. With a mean diameter of between 425 and 440 km and a mass estimated to be 3% of the total mass of the belt, it is the fourth-largest asteroid in the Solar System by both volume and mass, and is the largest of the C-type asteroids in classifications that use G type for 1 Ceres. It is very close to spherical, apparently because it had re-accreted after the disruptive impact that produced the large Hygiean family of asteroids.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">32 Pomona</span> Main-belt asteroid

    Pomona is a stony main-belt asteroid that is 81 kilometres (50 mi) in diameter. It was discovered by German-French astronomer Hermann Mayer Salomon Goldschmidt on October 26, 1854, and is named after Pōmōna, the Roman goddess of fruit trees.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">43 Ariadne</span> Main-belt asteroid

    Ariadne is a fairly large and bright main-belt asteroid. It is the second-largest member of the Flora asteroid family. It was discovered by N. R. Pogson on 15 April 1857 and named after the Greek heroine Ariadne.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">63 Ausonia</span> Main-belt asteroid

    Ausonia is a stony Vestian asteroid from the inner region of the asteroid belt, approximately 100 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by Italian astronomer Annibale de Gasparis on 10 February 1861, from the Astronomical Observatory of Capodimonte, in Naples, Italy. The initial choice of name for the asteroid was "Italia", after Italy, but this was modified to Ausonia, an ancient classical name for the Italian region.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">22 Kalliope</span> Main-belt asteroid

    Kalliope is a large M-type asteroid from the asteroid belt discovered by J. R. Hind on 16 November 1852. It is named after Calliope, the Greek Muse of epic poetry. It is orbited by a small moon named Linus.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">159 Aemilia</span> Main-belt asteroid

    Aemilia is a large main-belt asteroid. Aemilia was discovered by the French brothers Paul Henry and Prosper Henry on January 26, 1876. The credit for this discovery was given to Paul. It is probably named after the Via Aemilia, a Roman road in Italy that runs from Piacenza to Rimini.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">182 Elsa</span> Main-belt Asteroid

    Elsa is a Massalia or background asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 44 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 7 February 1878, by Austrian astronomer Johann Palisa at the Austrian Naval Observatory in today's Croatia. The S-type asteroid has a very long rotation period of 80 hours and likely an elongated shape. The origin of its name is uncertain.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">341 California</span> Main-belt asteroid

    California is an asteroid belonging to the Flora family in the Main Belt. It was discovered by Max Wolf on 25 September 1892 in Heidelberg, and is named for the U.S. state of California. This object is orbiting the Sun at a distance of 2.20 AU with a period of 3.26 yr and an eccentricity (ovalness) of 0.19. The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 5.7° to the plane of the ecliptic.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">354 Eleonora</span> Main-belt asteroid

    Eleonora is a large, stony main-belt asteroid that was discovered by the French astronomer Auguste Charlois on January 17, 1893, in Nice.

    Friederike is a minor planet orbiting in the asteroid belt. It is a member of the Hygiea family of asteroids.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">809 Lundia</span>

    809 Lundia is a small, binary, V-type asteroid orbiting within the Flora family in the main belt. It is named after Lund Observatory, Sweden.

    956 Elisa is a Flora asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 10.5 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 8 August 1921, by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth at the Heidelberg Observatory. The V-type asteroid has a rotation period of 16.5 hours. It was named after Elisa Reinmuth, mother of the discoverer.

    1622 Chacornac is a stony Flora asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 9 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 15 March 1952, by French astronomer Alfred Schmitt at the Royal Observatory of Belgium in Uccle, and named after astronomer Jean Chacornac.

    References

    1. 1 2 "20 Massalia". Minor Planet Center . Retrieved 29 March 2018.
    2. 1 2 "Messalian, Massalian" . Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press.(Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
    3. 1 2 3 Schmadel, Lutz D. (2007). "(20) Massalia". Dictionary of Minor Planet Names. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. p. 17. doi:10.1007/978-3-540-29925-7_21. ISBN   978-3-540-00238-3.
    4. ↑ John Craig (1869) The Universal English Dictionary
    5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 20 Massalia" (2018-01-24 last obs.). Jet Propulsion Laboratory . Retrieved 29 March 2018.
    6. 1 2 "Asteroid 20 Massalia". Small Bodies Data Ferret. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
    7. 1 2 3 Jim Baer (2008). "Recent Asteroid Mass Determinations". Personal Website. Archived from the original on 2 July 2013. Retrieved 11 December 2008.
    8. 1 2 M. Kaasalainen; et al. (2002). "Models of Twenty Asteroids from Photometric Data" (PDF). Icarus. 159 (2): 369–395. Bibcode:2002Icar..159..369K. doi:10.1006/icar.2002.6907.
    9. 1 2 Tedesco, E. F.; Noah, P. V.; Noah, M.; Price, S. D. (October 2004). "IRAS Minor Planet Survey V6.0". NASA Planetary Data System. 12: IRAS-A-FPA-3-RDR-IMPS-V6.0. Bibcode:2004PDSS...12.....T . Retrieved 30 October 2019.
    10. 1 2 3 J. Bange (1998). "An estimation of the mass of asteroid 20-Massalia derived from the HIPPARCOS minor planets data". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 340: L1. Bibcode:1998A&A...340L...1B.
    11. 1 2 "LCDB Data for (20) Massalia". Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB). Retrieved 29 March 2018.
    12. ↑ Donald H. Menzel & Jay M. Pasachoff (1983). A Field Guide to the Stars and Planets (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin. pp.  391. ISBN   978-0-395-34835-2.
    13. ↑ Bala, Gavin Jared; Miller, Kirk (18 September 2023). "Unicode request for historical asteroid symbols" (PDF). unicode.org. Unicode. Retrieved 26 September 2023.
    14. ↑ JPL Horizons (Opposition)
    15. ↑ Nesvorný, D.; Broz, M.; Carruba, V. (December 2014). "Identification and Dynamical Properties of Asteroid Families". Asteroids IV. pp. 297–321. arXiv: 1502.01628 . Bibcode:2015aste.book..297N. doi:10.2458/azu_uapress_9780816532131-ch016. ISBN   9780816532131.
    16. ↑ D. Vokrouhlický; et al. (2006). "Yarkovsky/YORP chronology of asteroid families". Icarus. 182 (1): 118–142. Bibcode:2006Icar..182..118V. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2005.12.010.
    17. ↑ 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, vol. 19, pp. 405–406, Bibcode:1988LPI....19..405G
    18. ↑ Arredondo, Anicia; McAdam, Margaret M.; Honniball, Casey I.; Becker, Tracy M.; Emery, Joshua P.; Rivkin, Andrew S.; Takir, Driss; Thomas, Cristina A. (12 February 2024). "Detection of Molecular H2O on Nominally Anhydrous Asteroids". The Planetary Science Journal. 5 (2): 37. Bibcode:2024PSJ.....5...37A. doi: 10.3847/PSJ/ad18b8 .
    19. ↑ Gamillo, Elizabeth (14 February 2024). "Water molecules identified on asteroids for the first time". Astronomy. Retrieved 27 March 2024.
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