50 Virginia
Main-belt asteroid
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
50 Virginia is a large, very dark main belt asteroid. It was discovered by American astronomer James Ferguson on October 4, 1857, from the United States Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C. German astronomer Robert Luther discovered it independently on October 19 from Düsseldorf, and his discovery was announced first.[1]
A three-dimensional model of 50 Virginia based on its light curve | |
| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Karl Theodor Robert Luther, James Ferguson |
| Discovery date | October 4, 1857 |
| Designations | |
| (50) Virginia | |
| Pronunciation | /vÉrËdÊɪniÉ/[2] |
Named after | Verginia or Virginia |
| Main belt | |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Epoch December 31, 2006 (JD 2454100.5) | |
| Aphelion | 509.817 million km (3.408 AU) |
| Perihelion | 283.389 million km (1.894 AU) |
| 396.603 million km (2.651 AU) | |
| Eccentricity | 0.285 |
| 1,576.682 d (4.32 a) | |
| 210.994° | |
| Inclination | 2.834° |
| 173.773° | |
| 199.961° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 99.8 km[3] |
| Mass | (2.31±0.70)Ã1018 kg[4] |
Mean density | 4.49 ± 1.35[4] g/cm3 |
| 14.31 h[3] | |
| 0.036[3][5] | |
| Ch[3] | |
| 9.24[3] | |
The reason for Virginia's name is not known; it may be named after Verginia, the Roman noblewoman slain by her father, but it may alternatively have been named after the American state of Virginia.[6]
Photometric observations of this asteroid at the Organ Mesa Observatory in Las Cruces, New Mexico, during 2008 gave a light curve with a period of 14.315 ± 0.001 hours and a brightness variation of 0.19 ± 0.02 in magnitude. The shape of the light curve at the maximum was found to change with phase angle.[7]
The orbit of 50 Virginia places it in an 11:4 mean motion resonance with the planet Jupiter. The computed Lyapunov time for this asteroid is only 10,000 years, indicating that it occupies a chaotic orbit that will change randomly over time because of gravitational perturbations of the planets.[8]
