271 Penthesilea Explained

Minorplanet:yes
Background:
  1. D6D6D6
271 Penthesilea
Discovered:13 October 1887
Mpc Name:(271) Penthesilea
Alt Names:A887 TB, 1916 GG
1916 HA
Pronounced:[1]
Epoch:31 July 2016 (JD 2457600.5)
Semimajor:3.0035AU
Perihelion:2.69235AU
Aphelion:3.3147abbr=onNaNabbr=on
Eccentricity:0.10361
Period:5.21 yr (1901.3 d)
Inclination:3.5395°
Asc Node:335.367°
Arg Peri:58.345°
Rotation:18.787abbr=onNaNabbr=on
Abs Magnitude:9.80
Mean Motion: / day
Observation Arc:112.35 yr (41037 d)
Uncertainty:0

271 Penthesilea is a mid-sized main belt asteroid that was discovered by Viktor Knorre on 13 October 1887 in Berlin. It was his last asteroid discovery. The asteroid was named after Penthesilea, the mythical Greek queen of the Amazons.

Photometric observations of this asteroid were made in early 2009 at the Organ Mesa Observatory in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The resulting light curve shows a synodic rotation period of 18.787 ± 0.001 hours with a brightness variation of 0.32 ± 0.04 in magnitude.

Notes and References

  1. Noah Webster (1884) A Practical Dictionary of the English Language