145 Adeona is a large

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the Solar System#Inner Solar System, inner Solar System or is co-orbital with Jupiter (Trojan asteroids). As ...

from the intermediate

asteroid belt The asteroid belt is a torus-shaped region in the Solar System, centered on the Sun and roughly spanning the space between the orbits of the planets Jupiter and Mars. It contains a great many solid, irregularly shaped bodies called asteroids ...

, approximately in diameter. Its surface is very dark, and, based upon its classification as a

C-type asteroid C-type (carbonaceous ) asteroids are the most common variety, forming around 75% of known asteroids. They are volatile-rich and distinguished by a very low albedo because their composition includes a large amount of carbon, in addition to rocks ...

, is probably composed of primitive

carbon Carbon () is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalence, tetravalent—meaning that its atoms are able to form up to four covalent bonds due to its valence shell exhibiting 4 ...

aceous material. The spectra of the asteroid displays evidence of aqueous alteration. The Adeona family of asteroids is named after it. It was discovered by C. H. F. Peters on June 3, 1875, from the observatory at

Hamilton College Hamilton College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Clinton, Oneida County, New York, Clinton, New York. It was established as the Hamilton-Oneida Academy in 1793 and received its c ...

, Clinton, New York. Peters named it after Adeona, the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

goddess of

homecoming Homecoming is the tradition of welcoming back alumni or other former members of an organization to celebrate the organization's existence. It is a tradition in many high schools, colleges, and churches in the United States and Canada. United St ...

, because he had recently returned from a journey across the world to observe the

transit of Venus A transit of Venus takes place when Venus passes directly between the Sun and the Earth (or any other superior planet), becoming visible against (and hence obscuring a small portion of) the solar disk. During a transit, Venus is visible as ...

. Peters also discovered 144 Vibilia on the same night. During 2001, ''Adeona'' was observed by radar from the

Arecibo Observatory The Arecibo Observatory, also known as the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center (NAIC) and formerly known as the Arecibo Ionosphere Observatory, is an observatory in Barrio Esperanza, Arecibo, Puerto Rico owned by the US National Science F ...

. The returned signal matched an effective diameter of 151 ± 18 km. This is consistent with the asteroid dimensions computed through other means. Two stellar

occultations 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 f ...

by ''Adeona'' have been observed: The first one on July 9, 2002 when it occulted an 11.8 mag star, and then again on February 3, 2005 when several observers in Japan recorded the occultation of a 10.4 mag star. The latter was consistent with a diameter of 151 km. The ''

Dawn Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the diffuse sky radiation, appearance of indirect sunlight being Rayleigh scattering, scattered in Earth's atmosphere, when the centre of the Sun's disc ha ...

'' mission team discussed performing a flyby of this object, however NASA decided against it in July 2016. At the time this was considered Dawn was orbiting the large asteroid/dwarf planet

1 Ceres Ceres ( minor-planet designation: 1 Ceres) is a dwarf planet in the middle main asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. It was the first known asteroid, discovered on 1 January 1801 by Giuseppe Piazzi at Palermo Astronomical O ...

, and went on studying that body later that year. ''Dawn'' had previously orbited asteroid

4 Vesta Vesta (minor-planet designation: 4 Vesta) is one of the largest objects in the asteroid belt, with a mean diameter of . It was discovered by the German astronomer Heinrich Wilhelm Matthias Olbers on 29 March 1807 and is named after Vesta (mytho ...

, before traveling to Ceres.

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Adeona 000145 Discoveries by Christian Peters Named minor planets 000145 000145 000145 18750603

See also

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External links