Penelope (
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 ...
: 201 Penelope) is a large
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.
...
that was discovered by Austrian astronomer
Johann Palisa
Johann Palisa (6 December 1848 – 2 May 1925) was an Austrian astronomer, born in Troppau, Austrian Silesia, now Czech Republic. He was a prolific discoverer of asteroids, discovering 122 in all, from 136 Austria in 1874 to 1073 Gel ...
on August 7, 1879, in
Pola Pola or POLA may refer to:
People
*House of Pola, an Italian noble family
*Pola Alonso (1923–2004), Argentine actress
*Pola Brändle (born 1980), German artist and photographer
*Pola Gauguin (1883–1961), Danish painter
*Pola Gojawiczyńska (18 ...
. The asteroid is named after
Penelope, the wife of
Odysseus
Odysseus ( ; grc-gre, Ὀδυσσεύς, Ὀδυσεύς, OdysseúsOdyseús, ), also known by the Latin variant Ulysses ( , ; lat, UlyssesUlixes), is a legendary Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's epic poem the ''Odyssey''. Odysse ...
in
Homer's ''
The Odyssey''. It is orbiting the
Sun at a distance of with an
eccentricity (ovalness) of 0.18 and a
period of . The
orbital plane is tilted at an angle of 5.8° to the
plane of the ecliptic.
Based upon the spectra of this object, it is classified as a
M-type asteroid, indicating it may be metallic in composition.
It may be the remnant of the core of a larger, differentiated asteroid. Near infrared absorption features indicate the presence of variable amounts of low-iron, low-calcium
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) ...
s on the surface. Trace amounts of water is detected with a
mass fraction of about 0.13–0.15 wt%.
It has an estimated size of around 88 km.
With a rotation period of 3.74 hours, it is the fastest rotating asteroid larger than 50 km in diameter.
References
External links
The Asteroid Orbital Elements Database*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Penelope
000201
Discoveries by Johann Palisa
Minor planets named from Greek mythology
Named minor planets
000201
000201
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