61 Danaë () is a stony (
S-type)
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.
...
in the outer
asteroid belt's
background population, approximately 84 kilometer in diameter. It was discovered by French astronomer
Hermann Goldschmidt on 9 September 1860, from his balcony in
Paris, France.
Goldschmidt was ill when asked to name the asteroid, and requested his fellow asteroid-hunter
Robert Luther
Karl Theodor Robert Luther (April 16, 1822, Świdnica – February 15, 1900 Düsseldorf), normally published as Robert Luther, was a German astronomer. While working at the Bilk Observatory in Düsseldorf, Germany, he searched for asteroids and ...
to name it instead. Luther chose to name it after
Danaë
In Greek mythology, Danaë (, ; ; , ) was an Argive princess and mother of the hero Perseus by Zeus. She was credited with founding the city of Ardea in Latium during the Bronze Age.
Family
Danae was the daughter and only child of King Acris ...
, the mother of
Perseus
In Greek mythology, Perseus (Help:IPA/English, /ˈpɜːrsiəs, -sjuːs/; Greek language, Greek: Περσεύς, Romanization of Greek, translit. Perseús) is the legendary founder of Mycenae and of the Perseid dynasty. He was, alongside Cadmus ...
in
Greek mythology.
Danaë was the first asteroid to have a
diacritical
A diacritic (also diacritical mark, diacritical point, diacritical sign, or accent) is a glyph added to a letter or to a basic glyph. The term derives from the Ancient Greek (, "distinguishing"), from (, "to distinguish"). The word ''diacriti ...
character in its official name.
The asteroid is orbiting the
Sun with a period of 5.15 years and is rotating on its axis once every 11.45 hours. In 1985, a study of
lightcurve data suggested that Danaë may have a
moon. If so, the main body would be an
ellipsoid
An ellipsoid is a surface that may be obtained from a sphere by deforming it by means of directional scalings, or more generally, of an affine transformation.
An ellipsoid is a quadric surface; that is, a surface that may be defined as the ...
measuring , and the moon would orbit away, measuring . The density of both would be .
References
* Alberto Cellino, Renato Pannunzio,
Vincenzo Zappalà,
Paolo Farinella
Paolo Farinella (13 January 1953 – 25 March 2000) was an Italian scientist very active in the field of planetary science and in particular in the study of asteroids and small bodies of the Solar System.
Biography
Paolo Farinella was born on ...
, and Paolo Paolicchi, 1985
''Do we observe light curves of binary asteroids?'' Astronomy and Astrophysics, Vol. 144, No. 2, pp. 355–362.
External links
Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB) query form
)
Dictionary of Minor Planet Names Google books
– Observatoire de Genève, Raoul Behrend
– Minor Planet Center
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Danae
000061
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Discoveries by Hermann Goldschmidt
Named minor planets
18600909