Lucia (
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 ...
: 222 Lucia) is a large
Themistian asteroid The Themis family (''adj. Themistian''; ) is a family of carbonaceous asteroids located in the outer portion of the asteroid belt, at a mean distance of 3.13 AU from the Sun. It is one of the largest families with over 4700 known members, and co ...
. 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 9 February 1882 in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
and named after Lucia, daughter of
Austro-Hungarian
Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
explorer
Graf Wilczek.
This object is spectral
C-type and is probably composed of primitive
carbonaceous
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 makes up ...
material. Based upon analysis of infrared spectra, it has a diameter of 59.8 ± 0.8 km. This object belongs to the
Themis family The Themis family (''adj. Themistian''; ) is a Asteroid family, family of carbonaceous asteroids located in the Kirkwood gap, outer portion of the asteroid belt, at a mean distance of 3.13 Astronomical Unit, AU from the Sun. It is one of the Asteroi ...
, which was formed by the break-up of a larger parent body about a billion years ago.
References
External links
Lightcurve plot of 222 Lucia Palmer Divide Observatory,
B. D. Warner (1999)
Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB) query form
)
Dictionary of Minor Planet Names Google books
– Observatoire de Genève, Raoul Behrend
– Minor Planet Center
*
*
000222
Discoveries by Johann Palisa
Named minor planets
000222
18820209
{{C-beltasteroid-stub