94 Aurora

Main-belt asteroid

Aurora (minor planet designation: 94 Aurora) is one of the largest main-belt asteroids. With an albedo of only 0.04, it is darker than soot, and has a primitive composition consisting of carbonaceous material. It was discovered by J. C. Watson on September 6, 1867, in Ann Arbor, and named after Aurora, the Roman goddess of the dawn.

This asteroid is orbiting the Sun with a period of 5.62 years and a relatively low eccentricity of 0.092. It is spinning with a rotation period of 7.22 hours. Observations of an occultation using nine chords indicate an oval outline of 225×173 km.[4] The asteroid's pole of rotation lies just 4–16° away from the plane of the ecliptic.[7]

Notes

  1. ^ Assuming a diameter of 196 ± 4 km.

References

  1. ^ "aurora". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  2. ^ "aurorean". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
    But see 'aurora' for the first vowel.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 94 Aurora" (2008-11-09 last obs). Retrieved 13 May 2016.
  4. ^ a b "Occultation of TYC 6910-01938-1 by (94) Aurora - 2001 October 12". Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand. Archived from the original on 19 February 2012. Retrieved 30 November 2008. (Chords) Archived 2008-10-21 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ a b Fienga, A.; Avdellidou, C.; Hanuš, J. (February 2020). "Asteroid masses obtained with INPOP planetary ephemerides". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 492 (1). doi:10.1093/mnras/stz3407.
  6. ^ Asteroid Data Sets Archived 2009-12-17 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ Marciniak, A.; et al. (May 2011), "Photometry and models of selected main belt asteroids. VIII. Low-pole asteroids", Astronomy & Astrophysics, 529: 14, Bibcode:2011A&A...529A.107M, doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201015365, A107

External links

  • 94 Aurora at AstDyS-2, Asteroids—Dynamic Site
    • Ephemeris · Observation prediction · Orbital info · Proper elements · Observational info
  • 94 Aurora at the JPL Small-Body Database Edit this at Wikidata
    • Close approach · Discovery · Ephemeris · Orbit diagram · Orbital elements · Physical parameters
  • v
  • t
  • e
Large asteroids (mean diameter greater than 200 km)
Mean diameter 900–1000 km
Ceres (a dwarf planet)
Mean diameter 500–600 km
Mean diameter 300–500 km
Mean diameter 200–300 km
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