50 Virginia
 Orbital diagram | |
| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Karl Theodor Robert Luther,James Ferguson |
| Discovery date | October 4, 1857 |
| Designations | |
| (50) Virginia | |
| Pronunciation | /vərˈdʒɪniə/[2] |
Named after | VerginiaorVirginia |
| Main belt | |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| EpochDecember 31, 2006 (JD2454100.5) | |
| Aphelion | 509.817 Gm (3.408 AU) |
| Perihelion | 283.389 Gm (1.894 AU) |
| 396.603 Gm (2.651AU) | |
| Eccentricity | 0.285 |
| 1,576.682 d (4.32a) | |
| 210.994° | |
| Inclination | 2.834° |
| 173.773° | |
| 199.961° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 99.8 km[3] |
| Mass | (2.31±0.70)×1018kg[4] |
Meandensity | 4.49 ± 1.35[4]g/cm3 |
| 14.31 h[3] | |
| 0.036[3][5] | |
| Ch[3] | |
| 9.24[3] | |
50 Virginiais a large, very darkmain beltasteroid.It was discovered by American astronomerJames Fergusonon October 4, 1857, from theUnited States Naval ObservatoryinWashington, D.C.German astronomerRobert Lutherdiscovered it independently on October 19 fromDüsseldorf,and his discovery was announced first.[1]
The reason for Virginia's name is not known; it may be named afterVerginia,theRomannoblewoman slain by her father, but it may alternatively have been named after the American state ofVirginia.[6]
Photometricobservations of this asteroid at the Organ Mesa Observatory inLas Cruces, New Mexico,during 2008 gave alight curvewith a period of 14.315 ± 0.001 hours and a brightness variation of 0.19 ± 0.02 inmagnitude.The shape of the light curve at the maximum was found to change withphase angle.[7]
The orbit of 50 Virginia places it in an 11:4mean motion resonancewith the planetJupiter.The computedLyapunov timefor this asteroid is only 10,000 years, indicating that it occupies a chaotic orbit that will change randomly over time because ofgravitational perturbationsof the planets.[8]
Virginia has been studied byradar.[9]
References
[edit]- ^ab"Numbered Minor Planets 1–5000",Discovery Circumstances,IAU Minor Planet center,retrieved7 April2013.
- ^Noah Webster (1884)A Practical Dictionary of the English Language
- ^abcdeYeomans, Donald K.,"50 Virginia",JPL Small-Body Database Browser,NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory,retrieved7 April2013.
- ^abCarry, B. (December 2012), "Density of asteroids",Planetary and Space Science,73(1): 98–118,arXiv:1203.4336,Bibcode:2012P&SS...73...98C,doi:10.1016/j.pss.2012.03.009,S2CID119226456.See Table 1.
- ^Asteroid Data SetsArchived2009-12-17 at theWayback Machine
- ^Schmadel, Lutz D. (2003).Dictionary of Minor Planet Names.Springer Science & Business Media. p. 20.ISBN978-3-540-00238-3.
- ^Pilcher, Frederick (January 2009), "Period Determinations for 33 Polyhymnia, 38 Leda, 50 Virginia, 189 Phthia, and 290 Bruna",The Minor Planet Bulletin,36(1): 25–27,Bibcode:2009MPBu...36...25P.
- ^Šidlichovský, M. (1999), Svoren, J.; Pittich, E. M.; Rickman, H. (eds.), "Resonances and chaos in the asteroid belt",Evolution and source regions of asteroids and comets: proceedings of the 173rd colloquium of the International Astronomical Union, held in Tatranska Lomnica, Slovak Republic, August 24–28, 1998,pp. 297–308,Bibcode:1999esra.conf..297S.
- ^"Radar-Detected Asteroids and Comets".NASA/JPL Asteroid Radar Research.Retrieved30 October2011.
External links
[edit]- 50 VirginiaatAstDyS-2, Asteroids—Dynamic Site
- 50 Virginiaat theJPL Small-Body Database
