20 Massalia
|
|
| Discovery A (http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/lists/NumberedMPs.html) | |
|---|---|
| Discoverer | Annibale de Gasparis |
| Discovery date | September 19, 1852 |
| Alternate designations | B (http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/MPDes.html) |
| Category | Main belt (Massalia) |
| Orbital elements C (http://asteroid.lowell.edu/) Epoch October 22, 2004 (JD 2453300.5) | |
| Eccentricity (e) | 0.143 |
| Semi-major axis (a) | 360.305 Gm (2.408 AU) |
| Perihelion (q) | 308.699 Gm (2.064 AU) |
| Aphelion (Q) | 411.911 Gm (2.753 AU) |
| Orbital period (P) | 1365.261 d (3.74 a) |
| Mean orbital speed | 19.09 km/s |
| Inclination (i) | 0.707° |
| Longitude of the ascending node (Ω) | 206.530° |
| Argument of perihelion (ω) | 255.578° |
| Mean anomaly (M) | 161.641° |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 145.5 km |
| Mass | 4.8×1018 kg 1 (http://www.psi.edu/pds/archive/lc.html) |
| Density | 2.7 g/cm³ 1 (http://www.psi.edu/pds/archive/lc.html) |
| Surface gravity | 0.0599 m/s² |
| Escape velocity | 0.0975 km/s |
| Rotation period | 0.3374 d (8.098 h) 1 (http://www.psi.edu/pds/archive/lc.html) |
| Spectral class | S |
| Absolute magnitude | 6.50 |
| Albedo | 0.210 2 (http://dorothy.as.arizona.edu/DSN/IRAS/index_iras.html) |
| Mean surface temperature | ~184 K |
20 Massalia (ma-sal'-ee-a) is a large and fairly bright Main belt asteroid. It is also the largest member of the Massalia family of asteroids.
It was discovered by A. de Gasparis on September 19, 1852. It was found independently the next night by J. Chacornac. His discovery was announced first.
Massalia is the Latin name for Marseilles, where Chacornac made his discovery (de Gasparis was observing from Naples).
External links
- Orbital elements for bright asteroids (http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/Ephemerides/Bright/2004/00020.html) from the Minor Planet Center.
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