1576 Fabiola, provisional designation , is a Themistian
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 outer regions of the
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 27 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 30 September 1948, by Belgian astronomer
Sylvain Arend
Sylvain Julien Victor Arend (6 August 1902 – 18 February 1992) was a Belgian astronomer born in Robelmont, Luxembourg province, Belgium. His main interest was astrometry.
Together with Georges Roland, he discovered the bright comet C/1956 ...
at the
Royal Observatory of Belgium
The Royal Observatory of Belgium (; ; ) has been situated in the Uccle municipality of Brussels since 1890. It is part of the institutions of the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (BELSPO).
The Royal Observatory was first established in S ...
in Uccle. The asteroid was named after
Queen Fabiola of Belgium
Fabiola Fernanda María-de-las-Victorias Antonia Adelaida de Mora y Aragón (11 June 1928 – 5 December 2014) was Queen of the Belgians as the wife of King Baudouin from their marriage in 1960 until his death in 1993. The couple had no child ...
.
Orbit and classification
''Fabiola'' is a Themistian asteroid that belongs to the
Themis family
The Themis family (''adj. Themistian''; ) is a family of carbonaceous asteroids located in the outer portion of the asteroid belt, at a mean distance of 3.13 AU from the Sun. It is one of the largest families with over 4700 known members, and c ...
(), a very large
family
Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...
of carbonaceous asteroids, named after
24 Themis
24 Themis is one of the largest asteroids in the asteroid belt. At roughly in diameter, it is also the largest member of the Themistian family. It was discovered by Annibale de Gasparis on 5 April 1853. It is named after Themis, the personif ...