Thia (

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 ...

: 405 Thia) is a very 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. ...

. It is classified as a C-type asteroid and is probably composed of carbonaceous material. This object was discovered by Auguste Charlois on July 23, 1895, in Nice, and was named after Theia (sometimes written ''Thea'' or ''Thia''), a

Titaness In Greek mythology, the Titans ( grc, οἱ Τῑτᾶνες, ''hoi Tītânes'', , ''ho Tītân'') were the pre-Olympian gods. According to the ''Theogony'' of Hesiod, they were the twelve children of the primordial parents Uranus (Sky) and Ga ...

in Greek mythology. In 2002, the asteroid was detected by radar from the

Arecibo Observatory The Arecibo Observatory, also known as the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center (NAIC) and formerly known as the Arecibo Ionosphere Observatory, is an observatory in Barrio Esperanza, Arecibo, Puerto Rico owned by the US National Science F ...

at a distance of 1.31 AU. The resulting data yielded an effective diameter of .

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* * Background asteroids

Thia The thumbnail crab, ''Thia scutellata'', is a species of decapods, in the family of thiidae, whose carapace resembles a human thumbnail, a dense fringe of long hairs distinctly notched around the edge. Pale pink in colour with red to brown mar ...

C-type asteroids (Tholen) Ch-type asteroids (SMASS) 18950723 {{C-beltasteroid-stub