Agathe (
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 ...
: 228 Agathe) is a stony
main 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, called ...
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.
...
, about 9 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by
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 19 August 1882 at
Vienna Observatory
The Vienna Observatory (german: Universitätssternwarte Wien) is an astronomical observatory in Vienna, Austria. It is part of the University of Vienna. The first observatory was built in 1753–1754 on the roof of one of the university buildings ...
, Austria.
Photometric observations during 2003 showed a
rotation period
The rotation period of a celestial object (e.g., star, gas giant, planet, moon, asteroid) may refer to its sidereal rotation period, i.e. the time that the object takes to complete a single revolution around its axis of rotation relative to the ...
of 6.48 ± 0.01 hours with a brightness variation of 0.27 ± 0.03 in
magnitude
Magnitude may refer to:
Mathematics
*Euclidean vector, a quantity defined by both its magnitude and its direction
*Magnitude (mathematics), the relative size of an object
*Norm (mathematics), a term for the size or length of a vector
*Order of ...
. An earlier study yielded results that are consistent with these estimates.
Agathe is the lowest
numbered asteroid to have an Earth-
MOID
Minimum orbit intersection distance (MOID) is a measure used in astronomy to assess potential close approaches and collision risks between astronomical objects. It is defined as the distance between the closest points of the osculating orbits of ...
as low as .
On 23 August 2029 the asteroid will be from Earth.
Agathe was named after the youngest daughter of Austrian astronomer
Theodor von Oppolzer
Theodor von Oppolzer (26 October 1841 – 26 December 1886) was an Austrian Empire, Austrian astronomer and mathematician of Bohemia, Bohemian origin.
The son of the physician Johann Ritter von Oppolzer, Theodor was born in Prague. He completed h ...
(1841–1886), professor of astronomy in Vienna.
References
External links
Dictionary of Minor Planet Names Google books
*
*
Background asteroids
Agathe
Agathe
S-type asteroids (Tholen)
S-type asteroids (SMASS)
18820819
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