8 Flora
|
|
| Discovery A (http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/lists/NumberedMPs.html) | |
|---|---|
| Discoverer | John Russell Hind |
| Discovery date | October 18, 1847 |
| Alternate designations | B (http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/MPDes.html) |
| Category | Main belt (Florian) |
| Orbital elements C (http://asteroid.lowell.edu/) Epoch July 14, 2004 (JD 2453200.5) | |
| Eccentricity (e) | 0.156 |
| Semi-major axis (a) | 329.313 Gm (2.201 AU) |
| Perihelion (q) | 277.806 Gm (1.857 AU) |
| Aphelion (Q) | 380.821 Gm (2.546 AU) |
| Orbital period (P) | 1192.956 d (3.27 a) |
| Mean orbital speed | 20.07 km/s |
| Inclination (i) | 5.887° |
| Longitude of the ascending node (Ω) | 111.033° |
| Argument of perihelion (ω) | 284.955° |
| Mean anomaly (M) | 5.680° |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 135.9 km |
| Mass | 2.6×1018 kg |
| Density | 2 ? g/cm³ |
| Surface gravity | 0.0380 m/s² |
| Escape velocity | 0.0718 km/s |
| Rotation period | 0.5363 d 1 (http://www.psi.edu/pds/archive/lc.html) |
| Spectral class | S-type asteroid |
| Absolute magnitude | 6.49 |
| Albedo | 0.243 2 (http://dorothy.as.arizona.edu/DSN/IRAS/index_iras.html) |
| Mean surface temperature | ~193 K |
8 Flora (flor'-a) is a large, bright Main belt asteroid. It is probably a mixture of silicate rock and nickel-iron metals.
It is the largest member of the Florian asteroid family, a remnant of a larger parent body that shattered in a violent collision.
It was discovered by J. R. Hind on October 18, 1847. It was his second asteroid discovery after 7 Iris.
The name Flora was proposed by John Herschel, from Flora, the Latin goddess of flowers and gardens, wife of Zephyrus (the personnification of the West wind), mother of Spring, and whose Greek equivalent is Chloris (who has her own asteroid, 410 Chloris).
External link
- "Announcement of discovery of Flora", MNRAS 8 (1848) 82 (http://adsabs.harvard.edu//full/seri/MNRAS/0008//0000082.000.html)
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