| Minorplanet: | yes |
| Background: |
|
| 201 Penelope | |
| Discovered: | 7 August 1879 |
| Mpc Name: | (201) Penelope |
| Adjective: | Penelopean |
| Alt Names: | A879 PA; 1869 GA |
| Epoch: | 21 January 2022 (JD 2457600.5) |
| Eccentricity: | 0.17924 |
| Inclination: | 5.75625° |
| Asc Node: | 156.91554° |
| Arg Peri: | 180.90559° |
| Mean Anomaly: | 169.01173° |
| Avg Speed: | 18.19 km/s |
| Dimensions: | |
| Rotation: | 3.7474abbr=onNaNabbr=on |
| Spectral Type: | |
| Abs Magnitude: |
|
| Albedo: | |
| Mean Motion: | / day |
| Uncertainty: | 0 |
| Jupiter Moid: | 2.23013AU |
| Tisserand: | 3.347 |
201 Penelope is a large main belt asteroid that was discovered by Austrian astronomer Johann Palisa on August 7, 1879, in Pola. The asteroid is named after Penelope, the wife of Odysseus in Homer's The Odyssey. It is orbiting the Sun at a distance of with an eccentricity (ovalness) of 0.18 and a period of 1600.2disp=outNaNdisp=out. The orbital plane is tilted at an angle of 5.8° to the plane of the ecliptic.
Based upon the spectra of this object, it is classified as a M-type asteroid, indicating it may be metallic in composition. It may be the remnant of the core of a larger, differentiated asteroid. Near infrared absorption features indicate the presence of variable amounts of low-iron, low-calcium orthopyroxenes on the surface. Trace amounts of water is detected with a mass fraction of about 0.13–0.15 wt%. It has an estimated size of around 88 km. With a rotation period of 3.74 hours, it is the fastest rotating asteroid larger than 50 km in diameter.