72 Feronia

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72 Feronia
72 Feronia.png
A three-dimensional model of 72 Feronia based on its light curve on the tip and an image of 72 Feronia on the bottem.
Discovery
Discovered by Christian Heinrich Friedrich Peters
Discovery dateMay 29, 1861
Designations
(72) Feronia
Pronunciation /fɛˈroʊniə/ [1]
Named after
 Feronia
Main belt
Adjectives Feronian
Orbital characteristics
Epoch December 31, 2006 (JD 2454100.5)
Aphelion 2.539  AU (379.8  Gm)
Perihelion 1.993 AU (298.1 Gm)
2.266 AU (339.0 Gm)
Eccentricity 0.121
1,246.123 days (3.41 a)
146.950°
Inclination 5.417°
208.137°
102.608°
Physical characteristics
Dimensions 83.95±4.02 km [2]
Mass (9.45 ± 3.76/1.75)×1017 kg [3]
Mean density
3.045 ± 1.212/0.565 g/cm3 [3]
8.09068 h [4]
−39 or −55 [4]
287 or 102 [4]
0.063 [5]
TDG [6]
8.94

    72 Feronia is a quite large and dark main belt asteroid. It was the first asteroid discovery by C. H. F. Peters, on May 29, 1861, [7] from Hamilton College, New York State. It was initially thought that Peters had merely seen the already known asteroid 66 Maja, but T.H. Safford showed that it was a new body. Safford named it after Feronia, a Roman fertility goddess. [8]

    This asteroid is orbiting the Sun with a period of 3.41 years, having a semimajor axis of 2.266  AU and an eccentricity of 0.121. The orbital plane is inclined by an angle of 5.4° to the plane of the ecliptic. This is a spectral type TDG asteroid with a cross-section size of 84 km. The asteroid has an estimated rotation period of 8.09 h. Hanuš et al. (2013) gives two possible solutions for the pole in ecliptic coordinates: (λ1, β1) = (287°, −39°) or (λ1, β1) = (102°, −55°).

    References

    1. ↑ Noah Webster (1884) A Practical Dictionary of the English Language
    2. ↑ Carry, B. (December 2012), "Density of asteroids", Planetary and Space Science, vol. 73, pp. 98–118, arXiv: 1203.4336 , Bibcode:2012P&SS...73...98C, doi:10.1016/j.pss.2012.03.009. See Table 1.
    3. 1 2 Fienga, A.; Avdellidou, C.; Hanuš, J. (February 2020). "Asteroid masses obtained with INPOP planetary ephemerides". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 492 (1). doi: 10.1093/mnras/stz3407 .
    4. 1 2 3 Hanuš, J.; et al. (September 2013), "Sizes of main-belt asteroids by combining shape models and Keck adaptive optics observations", Icarus, 226 (1): 1045−1057, arXiv: 1308.0446 , Bibcode:2013Icar..226.1045H, doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2013.07.023.
    5. ↑ "Asteroid Data Sets". Archived from the original on 17 December 2009. Retrieved 13 January 2007.
    6. ↑
    7. ↑ Sheehan, William (1999), "Christian Heinrich Friedrich Peters", Biographical Memoirs, vol. 76, National Academies Press, p. 289, ISBN   0309064341.
    8. ↑ Schmadel, Lutz (2003). Dictionary of minor planet names (fifth ed.). Germany: Springer. p. 22. ISBN   3-540-00238-3 . Retrieved 31 December 2008.


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