120 Lachesis

Main-belt asteroid

120 Lachesis is a large main-belt asteroid. It was discovered by French astronomer Alphonse Borrelly on April 10, 1872, and independently by German-American astronomer Christian Heinrich Friedrich Peters on April 11, 1872, then named after Lachesis, one of the Moirai, or Fates, in Greek mythology.[5] A Lachesean occultation of a star occurred in 1999 and was confirmed visually by five observers and once photoelectrically, with the chords yielding an estimated elliptical cross-section of 184 × 144 km.[6]

This body is orbiting the Sun with a period of 5.50 years and an eccentricity (ovalness) of 0.05. The orbital plane is inclined by 7° to the plane of the ecliptic. Photometric observations of this asteroid were made in early 2009 at the Organ Mesa Observatory in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The resulting light curve shows a synodic rotation period of 46.551 ± 0.002 hours with a brightness variation of 0.14 ± 0.02 in magnitude.[3] It is a very slow rotator[7] with the longest rotation period of an asteroid more than 150 km in diameter.[8] As a primitive C-type asteroid[4] it is probably composed of carbonaceous material.

References

  1. ^ "Lachesis". Lexico UK English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on March 23, 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d e "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 120 Lachesis". Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved December 18, 2022.
  3. ^ a b Pilcher, Frederick (July 2009), "Rotation Period Determinations for 120 Lachesis, 131 Vala 157 Dejanira, and 271 Penthesilea", The Minor Planet Bulletin, 36 (3): 100–102, Bibcode:2009MPBu...36..100P.
  4. ^ a b Tedesco, E. F.; et al. (February 1989), "A three-parameter asteroid taxonomy", Astronomical Journal, 97: 580–606, Bibcode:1989AJ.....97..580T, doi:10.1086/115007.
  5. ^ Schmadel, Lutz D. (2003), Dictionary of Minor Planet Names, vol. 1 (5th ed.), Springer, p. 26, ISBN 3540002383.
  6. ^ Dunham, D. W.; et al. (September 2002), "Asteroidal occultation results multiply helped by Hipparcos", The Minor Planet Bulletin, vol. 73, no. 3, p. 662, Bibcode:2002MmSAI..73..662D.
  7. ^ Bembrick, Colin; Allen, Bill (September 2005). "120 Lachesis - a very slow rotator". Bulletin of the Minor Planets Section of the Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers. 32 (3): 45–46. Bibcode:2005MPBu...32...45B.
  8. ^ "JPL Small-Body Database Search Engine: diameter > 150 (km) and rot_per > 24 (h)". JPL Solar System Dynamics. Retrieved June 6, 2015.
  • 120 Lachesis at AstDyS-2, Asteroids—Dynamic Site
    • Ephemeris · Observation prediction · Orbital info · Proper elements · Observational info
  • 120 Lachesis at the JPL Small-Body Database Edit this at Wikidata
    • Close approach · Discovery · Ephemeris · Orbit diagram · Orbital elements · Physical parameters
Authority control databases Edit this at Wikidata
  • JPL SBDB
  • MPC


Stub icon

This article about a C-type asteroid native to the asteroid belt is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

  • v
  • t
  • e