Liberatrix (
minor planet designation
A formal minor-planet designation is, in its final form, a number–name combination given to a minor planet (asteroid, centaur, trans-Neptunian object and dwarf planet but not comet). Such designation always features a leading number (catalog or ...
: 125 Liberatrix) is a
main-belt asteroid
An asteroid is a minor planet of the inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter; they are rocky, metallic or icy bodies with no atmosphere.
...
. It has a relatively
reflective surface and an
M-type spectrum. Liberatrix is a member of an
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 a ...
bearing its own name.
It was discovered by
Prosper Henry {{wiktionary, prosper
Prosper may refer to:
__NOTOC__ Places in the United States
* Prosper, Minnesota, an unincorporated community
* Prosper, North Dakota, an unincorporated community
* Prosper, Oregon, an unincorporated community
* Prosper, Texa ...
on 11 September 1872, from
Paris. Some sources give Paul Henry sole credit for its discovery.
[Schmadel Lutz D. ''Dictionary of Minor Planet Names'' (fifth edition), Springer, 2003. .] The asteroid's name is a feminine version of the word "liberator". Henry may have chosen the name to mark the liberation of
France from
Prussia during the
Franco-Prussian War in 1870. More specifically, it may honor
Adolphe Thiers
Marie Joseph Louis Adolphe Thiers ( , ; 15 April 17973 September 1877) was a French statesman and historian. He was the second elected President of France and first President of the French Third Republic.
Thiers was a key figure in the July Rev ...
, the first
President of the French Republic, who arranged a loan that enabled the Prussian troops to be removed from France.
In the late 1990s, a network of astronomers worldwide gathered
lightcurve data to derive the spin states and shape models of 10 asteroids, including Liberatrix. Liberatrix's lightcurve has a large
amplitude of 0.4 in
magnitude, indicating an elongated or irregular shape.
[Durech, J.; Kaasalainen, M.; Marciniak, A.; Allen, W. H. et al.]
Asteroid brightness and geometry
" ''Astronomy and Astrophysics'', Volume 465, Issue 1, April I 2007, pp. 331-337.
The spectrum of this asteroid matches a
M-type asteroid. It may be the remnant of an asteroid that had undergone differentiation, with
orthopyroxene
The pyroxenes (commonly abbreviated to ''Px'') are a group of important rock-forming inosilicate minerals found in many igneous and metamorphic rocks. Pyroxenes have the general formula , where X represents calcium (Ca), sodium (Na), iron (Fe II) ...
minerals scattered evenly across the surface. There is no indication of hydration.
To date, there have been at least two observed
occultations by Liberatrix. Early on 11 December 2014, Liberatrix occulted a 9th magnitude star and will be visible over the majority of Southern California and a swath of Mexico.
References
External links
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Discoveries by Paul Henry and Prosper Henry
Named minor planets
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