(34) Circe
Asteroid (34) Circe |
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Properties of the orbit ( animation ) | |
Orbit type | Middle main belt |
Major semi-axis | 2,685 AU |
eccentricity | 0.108 |
Perihelion - aphelion | 2.396 AU - 2.974 AU |
Inclination of the orbit plane | 5.5 ° |
Length of the ascending node | 184.5 ° |
Argument of the periapsis | 329.8 ° |
Time of passage of the perihelion | December 11, 2008 |
Sidereal period of rotation | 4 a 147 d |
Mean orbital velocity | 18.1 km / s |
Physical Properties | |
Medium diameter | 114 km |
Albedo | 0.0541 |
Rotation period | 12 h 9 min |
Absolute brightness | 8.5 likes |
Spectral class (according to Tholen) |
C. |
Spectral class (according to SMASSII) |
Ch |
history | |
Explorer | Jean Chacornac |
Date of discovery | April 6, 1855 |
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. |
(34) Circe is an asteroid of the main asteroid belt discovered by Jean Chacornac on April 6, 1855 .
The celestial body was named after Kirke , the sorceress from the Odyssey , who turned Odysseus ' companions "becircte" into pigs.
Circe moves from 2.39 ( perihelion ) to 2.98 ( aphelion ) astronomical units around the sun . The orbit is inclined 5.5 ° to the ecliptic , the orbital eccentricity is 0.11.
Circe has a diameter of about 114 kilometers. However, its low self-gravity should not be sufficient to form an ellipsoid of revolution, so that a rather irregular shape is to be expected. The value for the mean diameter is derived from the absolute brightness and the value of the albedo . The latter is subject to a relatively large uncertainty, so that the value for the diameter only provides an approximate order of magnitude of the dimensions of the celestial body.
From the fluctuations in brightness due to the natural rotation and the shape, the rotation period could be determined to be 12.15 hours.