| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by: | James Craig Watson |
| Discovery date: | August 24, 1867 |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Epoch December 31, 2006 (JD 2454100.5) | |
| Aphelion | 470.348 Gm (3.144 AU) |
| Perihelion: | 353.703 Gm (2.364 AU) |
| Semi-major axis: | 412.026 Gm (2.754 AU) |
| Eccentricity: | 0.142 |
| Orbital period: | 1669.541 d (4.57 a) |
| Avg. orbital speed: | 17.86 km/s |
| Mean anomaly: | 226.139° |
| Inclination: | 8.557° |
| Longitude of ascending node: | 4.148° |
| Argument of perihelion: | 275.747° |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions: | 141.0 km |
| Mass: | 2.9×1018 kg |
| Mean density: | ? g/cm³ |
| Equatorial surface gravity: | 0.0394 m/s² |
| Escape velocity: | 0.0745 km/s |
| Rotation period: | ? d |
| Albedo: | 0.088 [1] |
| Temperature: | ~168 K |
| Spectral type: | C? |
| Absolute magnitude: | 7.7 |
93 Minerva (mi-nerr'-və, IPA: /mɨˈnɝvə/) is a large main belt asteroid. It is a C-type asteroid, meaning that it has a dark surface and possibly a primitive carbonaceous composition. It was discovered by J. C. Watson on August 24, 1867 and named after Minerva, the Roman equivalent of Athena, goddess of wisdom. An occultation of a star by Minerva was observed in France, Spain and the United States on November 22, 1982. An occultation diameter of ~170 km was measured from the observations. Since then two more occultations have been observed, which give an estimated mean diameter of ~150 km for diameter.[2]
References
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| Vulcanoids · Near-Earth asteroids · Main belt · Jupiter Trojans · Centaurs · Damocloids · Neptune Trojans · Comets · Trans-Neptunians (Kuiper belt • Scattered disc objects • Oort cloud) |
| For other objects and regions, see Asteroid groups and families, Binary asteroids, Asteroid moons, meteoroids and the Solar System. For a complete listing, see List of asteroids. See also Pronunciation of asteroid names and Meanings of asteroid names. |
