Adeona ( minor planet designation: 145 Adeona) is a large asteroid from the intermediate

asteroid belt The asteroid belt is a torus-shaped region in the Solar System, located roughly between the orbits of the planets Jupiter and Mars. It contains a great many solid, irregularly shaped bodies, of many sizes, but much smaller than planets, c ...

, approximately in diameter. Its surface is very dark, and, based upon its classification as a

C-type asteroid C-type (carbonaceous) asteroids are the most common variety, forming around 75% of known asteroids. They are volatile-rich and distinguished by a very low albedo because their composition includes a large amount of carbon, in addition to rocks ...

, is probably composed of primitive

carbon Carbon () is a chemical element with the symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalent—its atom making four electrons available to form covalent chemical bonds. It belongs to group 14 of the periodic table. Carbon mak ...

aceous material. The spectra of the asteroid displays evidence of aqueous alteration. The Adeona family of asteroids is named after it. It was discovered by C. H. F. Peters on June 3, 1875, from the observatory at

Hamilton College Hamilton College is a private liberal arts college in Clinton, Oneida County, New York. It was founded as Hamilton-Oneida Academy in 1793 and was chartered as Hamilton College in 1812 in honor of inaugural trustee Alexander Hamilton, following ...

, Clinton, New York. Peters named it after

Adeona :''"Adenoa" of C.S. Rafinesque-Schmaltz is a '' nomen nudum'' for ''Galleria'', the genus of the greater wax moth.'' ''Adeona'' is a genus of bryozoans in the family Adeonidae. A typical example is the Australian species '' Adeona cellulosa'' ...

, the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

goddess of

homecoming Homecoming is the tradition of welcoming back alumni or other former members of an organization to celebrate the organization's existence. It is a tradition in many high schools, colleges, and churches in the United States, Canada and Liberia. ...

, because he had recently returned from a journey across the world to observe the

transit of Venus frameless, upright=0.5 A transit of Venus across the Sun takes place when the planet Venus passes directly between the Sun and a superior planet, becoming visible against (and hence obscuring a small portion of) the solar disk. During a tr ...

. Peters also discovered 144 Vibilia on the same night. During 2001, ''Adeona'' was observed by radar from the Arecibo Observatory. The returned signal matched an effective diameter of 151 ± 18 km. This is consistent with the asteroid dimensions computed through other means. Two stellar

occultations An occultation is an event that occurs when one object is hidden from the observer by another object that passes between them. The term is often used in astronomy, but can also refer to any situation in which an object in the foreground blocks ...

by ''Adeona'' have been observed: The first one on July 9, 2002 when it occulted an 11.8

mag Mag, MAG or mags may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''MAG'' (video game), 2010 * ''Mag'' (Slovenian magazine), 1995–2010 * '' The Mag'', a British music magazine Businesses and organisations * MacKenzie Art Gallery, in Regina, Sask ...

star, and then again on February 3, 2005 when several observers in Japan recorded the occultation of a 10.4 mag star. The latter was consistent with a diameter of 151 km. The ''

Dawn Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the appearance of indirect sunlight being scattered in Earth's atmosphere, when the centre of the Sun's disc has reached 18° below the observer's hori ...

'' mission team discussed performing a flyby of this object, however NASA decided against it in July 2016. At the time this was considered Dawn was orbiting the large asteroid/dwarf planet 1 Ceres, and went on studying that body later that year. ''Dawn'' had previously orbited asteroid

4 Vesta Vesta ( minor-planet designation: 4 Vesta) is one of the largest objects in the asteroid belt, with a mean diameter of . It was discovered by the German astronomer Heinrich Wilhelm Matthias Olbers on 29 March 1807 and is named after Vesta, t ...

, before traveling to Ceres.

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Adeona 000145 Discoveries by Christian Peters Named minor planets 000145 000145 000145 18750603

See also

References

External links