(13963) Euphrates

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Asteroid
(13963) Euphrates
Properties of the orbit ( animation )
Epoch:  4th November 2013 ( JD 2,456,600.5)
Orbit type Main outer belt asteroid
Asteroid family UD1 family
Major semi-axis 3.3297  AU
eccentricity 0.2571
Perihelion - aphelion 2.4739 AU - 4.1855 AU
Inclination of the orbit plane 0.9358 °
Length of the ascending node 227.2049 °
Argument of the periapsis 129.9678 °
Sidereal period 6.08 a
Mean orbital velocity 16.33 km / s
Physical Properties
Absolute brightness 13.8 mag
history
Explorer Eric Walter Elst
Date of discovery August 3, 1991
Another name 1991 PT 4 , 1997 TO 10
Source: Unless otherwise stated, the data comes from JPL Small-Body Database Browser . The affiliation to an asteroid family is automatically determined from the AstDyS-2 database . Please also note the note on asteroid items.

(13963) Euphrates is an asteroid of the main outer belt that was discovered by the Belgian astronomer Eric Walter Elst on August 3, 1991 at the La Silla Observatory of the European Southern Observatory in Chile ( IAU code 809).

The asteroid's orbit around the Sun is in a 2: 1 resonance with the orbit of Jupiter . This resonance zone is called the Hecuba gap. There are only a few asteroids there. It is assumed that the orbit of (13963) Euphrates is stable for only about 100 to 500 million years, so it is assigned to the Griqua asteroids, named after (1362) Griqua , the first and so far largest asteroid discovered with these properties.

In the AstDyS-2 database, (13963) Euphrates is assigned to an unconfirmed, small asteroid family in which the asteroid (11097) 1994 UD 1 is given as the parent body .

(13963) Euphrates was named on August 6, 2003 after the Euphrates , the largest river in the Middle East . The albedo feature on Mars called Euphrates, on the other hand, was named after the Old Testament Euphrates in 1958 , as was a caldera on the Earth's moon : Euphrates Patera , which was named in 2012.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. F. Roig, David Nesvorny , Sylvio Ferraz-Mello : Asteroids in the 2: 1 resonance with Jupiter: dynamics and size distribution . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 335, 2002, pages 417 to 431 ( PDF , 355 kB; English)
  2. (13963) Euphrates in the database of the "Asteroids - Dynamic Site" (AstDyS-2, English).
  3. The Albedo feature Euphrates in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature of the IAU (WGPSN) / USGS (English)
  4. The Euphrates Patera in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature of the IAU (WGPSN) / USGS (English)