Parthenope ( minor planet designation: 11 Parthenope) is a large, bright

main-belt The asteroid belt is a torus-shaped region in the Solar System, located roughly between the orbits of the planets Jupiter and Mars. It contains a great many solid, irregularly shaped bodies, of many sizes, but much smaller than planets, called ...

asteroid. Parthenope was discovered by

Annibale de Gasparis Annibale de Gasparis (9 November 1819, Bugnara – 21 March 1892, Naples; ) was an Italian astronomer, known for discovering asteroids and his contributions to theoretical astronomy. Biography De Gasparis was born in 1819 in Bugnara to Ang ...

on 11 May 1850, the second of his nine asteroid discoveries. It was named after ''Parthenopē'', one of the

Siren Siren or sirens may refer to: Common meanings * Siren (alarm), a loud acoustic alarm used to alert people to emergencies * Siren (mythology), an enchanting but dangerous monster in Greek mythology Places * Siren (town), Wisconsin * Siren, Wisc ...

s in

Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities ...

, said to have founded the city of

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

. De Gasparis "used his utmost endeavours to realise a 'Parthenope' in the heavens, such being the name suggested by Sir John Herschel on the occasion of the discovery of '' Hygiea'' in 1849". Two symbols were proposed for Parthenope: a fish and a star ( Parthenope symbol (fixed width)

) and later a lyre ( Parthenope lyre symbol (fixed width)

). Both are obsolete. There have been two observed Parthenopian

occultation An occultation is an event that occurs when one object is hidden from the observer by another object that passes between them. The term is often used in astronomy, but can also refer to any situation in which an object in the foreground blocks ...

s, on 13 February 1987, and 28 April 2006. On 6 August 2008, during a perihelic

opposition Opposition may refer to: Arts and media * ''Opposition'' (Altars EP), 2011 EP by Christian metalcore band Altars * The Opposition (band), a London post-punk band * '' The Opposition with Jordan Klepper'', a late-night television series on Com ...

, Parthenope had an

apparent magnitude Apparent magnitude () is a measure of the brightness of a star or other astronomical object observed from Earth. An object's apparent magnitude depends on its intrinsic luminosity, its distance from Earth, and any extinction of the object's ...

of 8.8. In 1988 a search for satellites or dust orbiting this asteroid was performed using the

UH88 The University of Hawai'i 88-inch (2.24-meter) telescope—called UH88, UH2.2, or simply 88 by members of the local astronomical community—is situated at the Mauna Kea Observatories and operated by the University's Institute for Astronomy. It ...

telescope at the

Mauna Kea Observatories The Mauna Kea Observatories (MKO) are a group of independent astronomical research facilities and large telescope observatories that are located at the summit of Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi, United States. The facilities are located ...

, but the effort came up empty. Based upon a

light curve In astronomy, a light curve is a graph of light intensity of a celestial object or region as a function of time, typically with the magnitude of light received on the y axis and with time on the x axis. The light is usually in a particular frequ ...

that was generated from photometric observations of this asteroid at

Pulkovo Observatory The Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory (russian: Пулковская астрономическая обсерватория, Pulkovskaya astronomicheskaya observatoriya), officially named the Central Astronomical Observatory of the Russian Academ ...

, it has a rotation period of 13.722 ± 0.001 hours and varies in brightness by 0.10 ± 0.0s in

magnitude Magnitude may refer to: Mathematics *Euclidean vector, a quantity defined by both its magnitude and its direction *Magnitude (mathematics), the relative size of an object *Norm (mathematics), a term for the size or length of a vector *Order of ...

. The light curve displays three maxima and minima per cycle. The JPL Small-Body Database lists a rotation period of 13.7204 hours.

Mass

In 2007, Baer and Chesley calculated a higher mass and density for Parthenope based on perturbations by the 90 km asteroid 17 Thetis. Baer and Chesley calculated a mass of 6.3 kg with a density of 3.3 g/cm³. 2008 estimates by Baer suggest a mass of 6.15. The 1997 and 2001 estimates by Viateau and Rapaport were closer to 5 kg with a density of 2.7 g/cm³.

Notes

External links

Lightcurve plot of 11 Parthenope
Palmer Divide Observatory, B. D. Warner (2008)
IOTA
(International Occultation Timing Association) occultation database
2011-Jan-26 Occultation

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Parthenope 000011 Discoveries by Annibale de Gasparis Named minor planets 000011 000011 18500511

Mass

See also

Notes

External links