228 Agathe is a stony
main 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 ...
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 ...
, about 9 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by
Johann Palisa
Johann Palisa (6 December 1848 – 2 May 1925) was an Austrian astronomer, born in Troppau, Austrian Silesia, now Czech Republic. He was a prolific discoverer of asteroids, discovering 122 in all, from 136 Austria in 1874 to 1073 G ...
on 19 August 1882 at
Vienna Observatory
The Vienna Observatory () is an astronomical observatory in Vienna, Austria. It is part of the University of Vienna. The first observatory was built in 1753–1754 on the roof of one of the university buildings.
A new observatory was built betwe ...
, Austria.
Photometric observations during 2003 showed a
rotation period
In astronomy, the rotation period or spin period of a celestial object (e.g., star, planet, moon, asteroid) has two definitions. The first one corresponds to the '' sidereal rotation period'' (or ''sidereal day''), i.e., the time that the objec ...
of 6.48 ± 0.01 hours with a brightness variation of 0.27 ± 0.03 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 ...
. An earlier study yielded results that are consistent with these estimates.
Agathe is the lowest
numbered asteroid to have an Earth-
MOID
Minimum orbit intersection distance (MOID) is a measure used in astronomy to assess potential close approaches and collision risks between astronomical objects. It is defined as the distance between the closest points of the osculating orbits of ...
as low as .
On 23 August 2029 the asteroid will be from Earth.
Agathe was named after the youngest daughter of Austrian astronomer
Theodor von Oppolzer (1841–1886), professor of astronomy in Vienna.
References
External links
Dictionary of Minor Planet Names Google books
*
*
Background asteroids
Agathe
Agathe
S-type asteroids (Tholen)
S-type asteroids (SMASS)
18820819
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