109 Felicitas Explained

Minorplanet:yes
Background:
  1. D6D6D6
109 Felicitas
Discovered:9 October 1869
Mpc Name:(109) Felicitas
Alt Names:A869 TA; 1911 HA
Pronounced:[1]
Epoch:31 July 2016 (JD 2457600.5)
Semimajor:2.6968AU
Perihelion:1.89658AU
Aphelion:3.4971abbr=onNaNabbr=on
Eccentricity:0.29674
Period:4.43 yr (1617.6 d)
Inclination:7.8813°
Asc Node:3.1617°
Arg Peri:56.392°
Avg Speed:17.73 km/s
Dimensions:
88.971 km
Mass:7.5 kg
Surface Grav:0.0250 m/s2
Escape Velocity:0.0473 km/s
Rotation:13.191abbr=onNaNabbr=on
Spectral Type:GC (Tholen)
Abs Magnitude:8.75, 8.759
Albedo:
0.07 ± 0.02
Mean Motion: / day
Observation Arc:146.39 yr (53470 d)
Uncertainty:0
Moid:0.920053AU
Jupiter Moid:1.95452AU
Tisserand:3.291

109 Felicitas is a dark and fairly large main-belt asteroid. It was discovered by German-American astronomer C. H. F. Peters on October 9, 1869, and named after Felicitas, the Roman goddess of success. The only observed stellar occultation by Felicitas is one from Japan (March 29, 2003).[2]

This body is orbiting the Sun with a period of 4.43 years and an eccentricity (ovalness) of 0.3. Its orbital plane is inclined by 7.9° from the plane of the ecliptic. 109 Felicitas is classified as a carbonaceous GC-type asteroid. It is spinning with a rotation period of 13.2 hours. During 2002, 109 Felicitas was observed by radar from the Arecibo Observatory. The return signal matched an effective diameter of 89 ± 9 km. This is consistent with the asteroid dimensions computed through other means.

Notes and References

  1. Noah Webster (1884) A Practical Dictionary of the English Language
  2. http://mpocc.astro.cz/world/mpocc1.txt Observed minor planet occultation events, version of 2005 July 26