(37) Fides

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Asteroid
(37) FidesAstronomical symbol from Fides
Properties of the orbit ( animation )
Orbit type Middle main belt
Major semi-axis 2,643  AU
eccentricity 0.174
Perihelion - aphelion 2.184 AU - 3.102 AU
Inclination of the orbit plane 3.1 °
Length of the ascending node 7.3 °
Argument of the periapsis 62.5 °
Time of passage of the perihelion December 10, 2010
Sidereal period of rotation 4 a 107 d
Mean orbital velocity 18.2 km / s
Physical Properties
Medium diameter 108 km
Albedo 0.1826
Rotation period 7 h 20 min
Absolute brightness 7.3 likes
Spectral class
(according to Tholen)
S.
Spectral class
(according to SMASSII)
S.
history
Explorer Karl Theodor Robert Luther
Date of discovery October 5, 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.

(37) Agenzia ( lat. Fides f. "Loyalty, faith", hence the German the Agenzia) is an asteroid of the main asteroid belt . It has a relatively light, silicate-containing surface.

Name and symbol

symbol

The discoverer Karl Theodor Robert Luther had the name, together with the astronomical symbol, chosen by the Düsseldorf municipal council at its meeting on October 10, 1855 from a list of suggestions from his observatory and published this decision the following day without explaining the choice of name. Since naming after characters from classical mythology was common at the time , it can be formally assumed that naming after Fides as a personification of loyalty in Roman mythology . However, since fides denotes the Christian faith in church Latin and at the same time a symbol based on the Christian cross was chosen, it cannot be ruled out that precisely this association was intended.

Together with the name “Fides”, “the sign of a cross” was proposed as a symbol, although circled numbers had been common as symbols for asteroids since 1851. The symbol printed in the original proposal resembles a Latin cross , but has round, teardrop-shaped extended ends. It was the last symbol proposed by an astronomer for a main belt asteroid. In the scientific literature, the symbol could no longer prevail against the number representation circled at the time and now bracketed or free-standing.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. a b Letter from Dr. R. Luther, Directors of the Bilk Observatory, to the editor (dated October 11, 1855). In: Astronomische Nachrichten , Volume 42, Altona 1856, Column 107/108
  2. ^ Johann Franz Encke : Berlin Astronomical Yearbook for 1854 . Berlin 1851, p. 389