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 ...
and the parent body of the Charis family, located in 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 49 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 4 March 1907, by German astronomer
August Kopff
August Kopff (February 5, 1882 – April 25, 1960) was a German astronomer and discoverer of several comets and asteroids.
Kopff studied and worked in Heidelberg, getting his PhD there in 1906 and he then joined the Humboldt University of Berli ...
at the
Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory
Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory () is a historic astronomical observatory located near the summit of the Königstuhl hill in the city of Heidelberg in Germany. It is operated by the ''Center for Astronomy (ZAH)'' at the University of He ...
in southwest Germany. The asteroid was named after the Greek goddess
Charis
In Greek mythology, the Charites (; ), singular Charis (), also called the Graces, are goddesses who personify beauty and grace. According to Hesiod, the Charites were Aglaea, Euphrosyne, and Thalia, who were the daughters of Zeus and Eurynome ...
, a name which may have been inspired by the asteroid's provisional designation ''1907 XS''. ('Charis' is in Greek is spelled 'Χάρις'.)
Orbit and classification
''Charis'' is the
parent body
A parent body in meteoritics is the celestial body from which originates a meteorite or a class of meteorites.
Identification
It is easiest to correlate a meteorite with a parent body when the parent body still exists. This is the case for Lun ...
asteroid family
An asteroid family is a population of asteroids that share similar proper orbital elements, such as semimajor axis, eccentricity, and orbital inclination. The members of the families are thought to be fragments of past asteroid collisions. An ...
of more than 800 known members. It orbits the Sun in the