83 Beatrix
Main-belt asteroid
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
83 Beatrix is a fairly large asteroid orbiting in the inner part of the main asteroid belt. It was discovered by Annibale de Gasparis on April 26, 1865. It was his last asteroid discovery. A diameter of at least 68 kilometres (42 mi) was determined from the Beatrician stellar occultation observed on June 15, 1983. It is named for Beatrice Portinari,[4] beloved of Dante Alighieri and immortalized by him in La Vita Nuova and The Divine Comedy.
| |
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Annibale de Gasparis |
| Discovery date | April 26, 1865 |
| Designations | |
| (83) Beatrix | |
| Pronunciation | /ˈbiːətrɪks/ BEE-ə-triks[1] |
Named after | Beatrice Portinari |
| Main belt | |
| Adjectives | Beatrician (/ˌbiːəˈtrɪʃən/ BEE-ə-TRISH-ən)[2] |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Epoch December 31, 2006 (JD 2454100.5) | |
| Aphelion | 393.528 million km (2.631 AU) |
| Perihelion | 334.023 million km (2.233 AU) |
| 363.776 million km (2.432 AU) | |
| Eccentricity | 0.082 |
| 1385.035 d (3.79 a) | |
Average orbital speed | 19.07 km/s |
| 141.862° | |
| Inclination | 4.966° |
| 27.800° | |
| 167.170° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 81.4 km |
| Mass | 5.6×1017 kg |
| 10.11 hours | |
| 0.092 [3] | |
| X | |
| 8.66 | |
On February 16, 2001, an occultation of a magnitude +9.09 star by this asteroid was observed from three locations. The resulting chords matched an elliptical profile with a mean radius of 35.9 km. The observers noted some dimming and flickering at the beginning of the event, which may indicate the star was binary or the asteroid has an irregular shape. Previous occultations had been observed in 1983 and 1990, which produced a much larger size estimate of 81.4 km.[5]
_mathilde.jpg){kind=small}