50 Virginia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Discovery[1]
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| Discovered by | Karl Theodor Robert Luther |
| Discovery date | October 4, 1857 |
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Designations
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| Alternate name(s) | |
| Minor planet category |
Main belt |
| Epoch December 31, 2006 (JD 2454100.5) | |
| Aphelion | 509.817 Gm (3.408 AU) |
| Perihelion | 283.389 Gm (1.894 AU) |
| Semi-major axis | 396.603 Gm (2.651 AU) |
| Eccentricity | 0.285 |
| Orbital period | 1576.682 d (4.32 a) |
| Average orbital speed | 17.91 km/s |
| Mean anomaly | 210.994° |
| Inclination | 2.834° |
| Longitude of ascending node | 173.773° |
| Argument of perihelion | 199.961° |
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Physical characteristics
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| Dimensions | 99.8 km[1] |
| Mass | 1.04×1018 kg[2] (assumed) |
| Mean density | 2? g/cm³ (assumed) |
| Equatorial surface gravity | 0.0279 m/s² |
| Escape velocity | 0.0527 km/s (190 km/h)[2] |
| Rotation period | 14.31 h[1] |
| Albedo | 0.036[1][3] |
| Temperature | ~171 K |
| Spectral type | Ch[1] |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 9.24[1] |
50 Virginia (
/vərˈdʒɪnjə/) is a large, very dark main belt asteroid. It was discovered by James Ferguson on October 4, 1857 from the United States Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C.. Robert Luther discovered it independently on October 19 from Düsseldorf, and his discovery was announced first.
The reason for Virginia's name is not known; it may be named after Verginia, the Roman noblewoman slain by her father, but it may alternatively have been named after the American state of Virginia, which is contiguous with Washington.[4]
Virginia has been studied by radar.[5]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e f "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 50 Virginia". Jet Propulsion Laboratory. 2011-07-28 last obs. http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=50. Retrieved 2012-01-23.
- ^ a b Using a spherical radius of 49.9 km; volume of a sphere * an assumed density of 2 g/cm³ yields a mass (m=d*v) of 1.04×1018 kg and an escape velocity (sqrt((2*g*m)/r)) of 52.7 m/s (190 km/h)
- ^ Asteroid Data Sets
- ^ Lutz D. Schmadel, Dictionary of Minor Planet Names, p.20.
- ^ "Radar-Detected Asteroids and Comets". NASA/JPL Asteroid Radar Research. http://echo.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroids/. Retrieved 2011-10-30.
[edit] External links
- Orbital simulation from JPL (Java) / Ephemeris
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