322 Phaeo is an

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 central 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 in diameter. It was discovered on 27 November 1891, by French astronomer

Alphonse Borrelly Alphonse Louis Nicolas Borrelly (December 8, 1842 – February 28, 1926) was a French astronomer born in Roquemaure, Gard. He joined the Marseille Observatory in 1864. In the course of his career, he discovered a number of asteroids and comets, ...

at the

Marseille Observatory Marseille Observatory () is an astronomical observatory located in Marseille, France, with a history that goes back to the early 18th century. In its 1877 incarnation, it was the discovery site of a group of galaxies known as Stephan's Quintet, ...

in southern France. The presumably metallic

X-type asteroid The X-group of asteroids collects together several types with similar spectra, but probably quite different compositions. Tholen classification In the Tholen classification, the X-group consists of the following types: * E-type – with high ...

is the principal body of the Phaeo family and has 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 17.6 hours. It was named for the Greek mythological figure Phaeo, one of the

Hyades Hyades may refer to: *Hyades (band) *Hyades (mythology) *Hyades (star cluster), an open star cluster in the constellation Taurus {{Disambiguation it:Iadi ...

nymph A nymph (; ; sometimes spelled nymphe) is a minor female nature deity in ancient Greek folklore. Distinct from other Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature; they are typically tied to a specific place, land ...

s. Several other asteroids were named for other of the Hyades – 193 Ambrosia,

158 Koronis 158 Koronis is a Asteroid belt, main-belt asteroid that was discovered by Russian astronomer Viktor Knorre on January 4, 1876, from the Berlin observatory. It was the first of his four asteroid discoveries. The meaning of the asteroid name is un ...

, 217 Eudora, and

308 Polyxo 308 Polyxo is a main-belt asteroid that was discovered by Alphonse Borrelly on 31 March 1891, in Marseille. It is orbiting the Sun at a distance of with a low orbital eccentricity (ovalness) of 0.04 and a period of . The orbital plane is tilt ...

.Lutz D. Schmadel, ''Dictionary of Minor Planet Names'', p. 42. Springer, .

References

External links

Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB)
query form

)
Dictionary of Minor Planet Names
Google books

– Minor Planet Center * * 000322 Discoveries by Alphonse Borrelly Named minor planets 000322 000322 18911127 {{Beltasteroid-stub