40 Harmonia
|
A three-dimensional model of 40 Harmonia based on its light curve. | |
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | H. Goldschmidt |
| Discovery date | March 31, 1856 |
| Designations | |
| 1950 XU | |
| Main belt | |
| Orbital characteristics[1] | |
| Epoch December 31, 2006 (JD 2454100.5) | |
| Aphelion | 355.021 Gm (2.373 AU) |
| Perihelion | 323.537 Gm (2.163 AU) |
| 339.279 Gm (2.268 AU) | |
| Eccentricity | 0.046 |
| 1,247.514 d (3.42 a) | |
Average orbital speed | 19.77 km/s |
| 249.120° | |
| Inclination | 4.256° |
| 94.287° | |
| 268.988° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 107.6 km |
| Mass | ~1.3×1018 kg |
Mean density | 2.0? g/cm³ |
| ~0.0301 m/s² | |
| ~0.0569 km/s | |
| 0.3712 d (8.909 h)[2] | |
| Albedo | 0.242 (geometric)[3] |
| Temperature | ~177 K |
Spectral type | S |
| 9.31 (brightest) | |
| 7.0 | |
|
| |
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40 Harmonia /hɑːrˈmoʊniə/ is a large main-belt asteroid. It was discovered by German-French astronomer Hermann Goldschmidt on March 31, 1856,[4] and named after Harmonia, the Greek goddess of harmony. The name was chosen to mark the end of the Crimean War.
The spectrum of 40 Harmonia matches an S-type in the Tholen classification system, and is similar to primitive achondrite meteorites.[5]
Photometric observations at the Organ Mesa Observatory in Las Cruces, New Mexico during 2008–09 were used to generate a light curve that showed four unequal minima and maxima per cycle. The curve shows a period of 8.909 ± 0.001 hours with a brightness variation of 0.28 ± 0.02 in magnitude. This result is compatible with previous studies.[2]
Speckle interferometric observations carried out with the Nicholas U. Mayall Telescope at the Kitt Peak National Observatory during 1982–84 failed to discover a satellite companion.[6] In 1988 a search for satellites or dust orbiting this asteroid was performed using the UH88 telescope at the Mauna Kea Observatories, but the effort came up empty.[7]
References
- ↑ Yeomans, Donald K., "40 Harmonia", JPL Small-Body Database Browser, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, retrieved 2013-04-07.
- 1 2 Pilcher, Frederick (October 2009), "New Lightcurves of 8 Flora, 13 Egeria, 14 Irene, 25 Phocaea 40 Harmonia, 74 Galatea, and 122 Gerda", The Minor Planet Bulletin, 36 (4), pp. 133–136, Bibcode:2009MPBu...36..133P.
- ↑ Asteroid Data Archive, Planetary Science Institute, retrieved 2008-11-03.
- ↑ "Numbered Minor Planets 1–5000", Discovery Circumstances, IAU Minor Planet center, retrieved 2013-04-07.
- ↑ Hiroi, T.; et al. (March 1993), "Modeling of S-type asteroid spectra using primitive achondrites and iron meteorites", Icarus, 102 (1), pp. 107–116, Bibcode:1993Icar..102..107H, doi:10.1006/icar.1993.1036.
- ↑ Roberts, Lewis C., Jr.; et al. (November 1995), "A Speckle Interferometric Survey for Asteroid Duplicity", Astronomical Journal, 110, pp. 2463–2468, Bibcode:1995AJ....110.2463R, doi:10.1086/117704.
- ↑ 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, 19, pp. 405–406, Bibcode:1988LPI....19..405G.
External links
- Orbital simulation from JPL (Java)
- Ephemeris
- 40 Harmonia at the JPL Small-Body Database
