Athamantis (minor planet designation: 230 Athamantis) is a fairly large main-belt asteroid that was discovered by the German-Austrian astronomer K. de Ball on September 3, 1882, in Bothkamp. It was his only asteroid discovery. The asteroid was named after Athamantis, daughter of Athamas the mythical Greek king of Orchomenus.

230 Athamantis
Discovery
Discovered byK. de Ball
Discovery date3 September 1882
Designations
(230) Athamantis
Pronunciation/æθəˈmæntɪs/
Named after
Helle
1949 WG
Main belt
Orbital characteristics[1]
Epoch 31 July 2016 (JD 2457600.5)
Uncertainty parameter 0
Observation arc133.58 yr (48791 d)
Aphelion2.52818 AU (378.210 Gm)
Perihelion2.23641 AU (334.562 Gm)
2.38229 AU (356.386 Gm)
Eccentricity0.06124
3.68 yr (1343.0 d)
19.3 km/s
116.2°
0° 16m 4.969s / day
Inclination9.443°
239.9°
139.1°
Physical characteristics
Dimensionsc/a = 0.76±0.07[2]
Mean diameter
118±2 km[2]
108.99±2.0 km[1]
110.17 ± 4.57 km[3]
Mass(2.3±1.1)×1018 kg[2]
(1.89±0.19)×1018 kg[3]
Mean density
2.7±1.3 g/cm3[2]
2.69±0.43 g/cm3[3]
24.0055 h (1.00023 d)[1]
23.99 h[4]
0.146 (calculated)[2]
0.1708±0.006
S
7.35

Photometric observations of this asteroid gave a light curve with a period of 23.99 hours and a brightness variation of more than 0.20 in magnitude.[4] It has the spectrum of an S-type asteroid. During 1991, the asteroid was observed occulting a star. The resulting chords provided a cross-section diameter estimate of 101.8 km.[5]

A three-dimensional model of 230 Athamantis based on its light curve

References edit

  1. ^ a b c "230 Athamantis". JPL Small-Body Database. NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
  2. ^ a b c d e P. Vernazza et al. (2021) VLT/SPHERE imaging survey of the largest main-belt asteroids: Final results and synthesis. Astronomy & Astrophysics 54, A56
  3. ^ a b c Carry, B. (December 2012), "Density of asteroids", Planetary and Space Science, vol. 73, pp. 98–118, arXiv:1203.4336, Bibcode:2012P&SS...73...98C, doi:10.1016/j.pss.2012.03.009. See Table 1.
  4. ^ a b Zeigler, K. W.; Florence, W. B. (June 1985), "Photoelectric photometry of asteroids 9 Metis, 18 Melpomene, 60 Echo, 116 Sirona, 230 Athamantis, 694 Ekard, and 1984 KD", Icarus, vol. 62, no. 3, pp. 512–517, Bibcode:1985Icar...62..512Z, doi:10.1016/0019-1035(85)90191-5.
  5. ^ Shevchenko, Vasilij G.; Tedesco, Edward F. (September 2006), "Asteroid albedos deduced from stellar occultations", Icarus, 184 (1): 211–220, Bibcode:2006Icar..184..211S, doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2006.04.006.

External links edit