Hungaria family

The Hungaria family (003^[1]) is a collisional asteroid family of at least 2,966 known asteroids,^[2] named for its largest member, the 11-kilometre (6.8 mi)-across asteroid 434 Hungaria. It lies within the larger dynamical group of Hungaria asteroids, a group of asteroids in the far inner asteroid belt, with semimajor axes of 1.78 to 2.00 AU. All members of the family are bright E-type asteroids with albedos of around 0.35–0.6.

An asteroid family is a group of physically related asteroids usually created by a collision with an original larger asteroid, with the fragments continuing on similar orbits to the original. This is distinct from a dynamical group in that the members of a dynamical group only share similar orbits because of gravitational interactions with planets, which concentrate asteroids in a particular orbital range. Members of the Hungaria family are both part of the wider Hungaria dynamical group, and fragments of 434 Hungaria. The family is considered a catastrophic asteroid family because 434 Hungaria, its largest member, makes up only a fifth of the family's mass.^[3]

The family has been variously estimated to be 205±45 million years,^[4] 275 million years,^[5] and 400±100 million years old.^[6]