762 Pulcova is a

main-belt asteroid 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 ...

. It was discovered by Grigoriy N. Neujmin in 1913, and is named after

Pulkovo Observatory The Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory (russian: Пулковская астрономическая обсерватория, Pulkovskaya astronomicheskaya observatoriya), officially named the Central Astronomical Observatory of the Russian Academ ...

, near

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. Pulcova is 137 km in diameter, and is a

C-type asteroid C-type (carbonaceous) asteroids are the most common variety, forming around 75% of known asteroids. They are volatile-rich and distinguished by a very low albedo because their composition includes a large amount of carbon, in addition to rocks ...

, which means that it is dark in colouring with a

carbonate A carbonate is a salt of carbonic acid (H2CO3), characterized by the presence of the carbonate ion, a polyatomic ion with the formula . The word ''carbonate'' may also refer to a carbonate ester, an organic compound containing the carbonate g ...

composition. Photometric observations of this asteroid from

Leura Leura ( postcode: 2780) is a suburb in the City of Blue Mountains local government area that is located west of the Sydney central business district in New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the series of small towns stretched along the Mai ...

, Australia during 2006 gave a

light curve In astronomy, a light curve is a graph of light intensity of a celestial object or region as a function of time, typically with the magnitude of light received on the y axis and with time on the x axis. The light is usually in a particular frequ ...

with a period of 5.8403 ± 0.0005 hours and a brightness variation of 0.20 ± 0.02 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 ...

. This result is in agreement with previous studies.

Satellite

On February 22, 2000, ( AO image) astronomers at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope on

Mauna Kea Mauna Kea ( or ; ; abbreviation for ''Mauna a Wākea''); is a dormant volcano on the island of Hawaii. Its peak is above sea level, making it the highest point in the state of Hawaii and second-highest peak of an island on Earth. The peak is ...

, Hawaii, discovered a 15-km moon (roughly a tenth the size of the primary) (mentions both

90 Antiope Antiope (minor planet designation: 90 Antiope) is a double asteroid in the outer asteroid belt. It was discovered on October 1, 1866, by Robert Luther. In 2000, it was found to consist of two almost-equally-sized bodies orbiting each other. At a ...

and 762 Pulcova) orbiting Pulcova at a distance of 800 km. Its orbital period is 4 days. The satellite is about 4 magnitudes fainter than the primary. It was one of the first asteroid moons to be identified.

Density

In the year 2000, Merline estimated Pulcova to have a

density Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the substance's mass per unit of volume. The symbol most often used for density is ''ρ'' (the lower case Greek letter rho), although the Latin letter ''D'' can also be used. Mathematical ...

of 1.8 g/cm³, which would make it more dense than the trinary asteroid

45 Eugenia Eugenia ( minor planet designation: 45 Eugenia) is a large asteroid of the asteroid belt. It is famed as one of the first asteroids to be found to have a moon orbiting it. It was also the second triple asteroid to be discovered, after 87 Sylvia ...

, and binary

. But estimates by Marchis in 2008 suggest a density of only 0.90 g/cm³, suggesting it may be a loosely packed rubble pile, not a monolithic object.

References

External links

Asteroids with Satellites
Robert Johnston, johnstonsarchive.net * * {{DEFAULTSORT:000762 000762 Pulcova Pulcova 000762 000762 19130903 20000222