| Minorplanet: | yes |
| Background: |
|
| 277 Elvira | |
| Discovered: | 3 May 1888 |
| Mpc Name: | (277) Elvira |
| Alt Names: | A888 JA |
| Mp Category: | Main belt (Koronis) |
| Epoch: | 31 July 2016 (JD 2457600.5) |
| Semimajor: | 2.88422AU |
| Perihelion: | 2.62032AU |
| Aphelion: | 3.14812abbr=onNaNabbr=on |
| Eccentricity: | 0.091498 |
| Period: | 4.90 yr (1789.1 d) |
| Inclination: | 1.16250° |
| Asc Node: | 231.271° |
| Arg Peri: | 137.520° |
| Dimensions: | 27.19 km |
| Rotation: | 29.69abbr=onNaNabbr=on |
| Abs Magnitude: | 9.84 |
| Albedo: | 0.277 |
| Mean Motion: | / day |
| Orbit Ref: | [1] |
| Observation Arc: | 116.65 yr (42607 d) |
| Uncertainty: | 0 |
277 Elvira is a typical main belt asteroid and is a member of the Koronis asteroid family. It was discovered by Auguste Charlois on 3 May 1888 in Nice. 277 Elvira is possibly named for a character in Alphonse de Lamartine's Méditations poétiques (1820) and Harmonies poétiques et religieuses (1830).[2]
A group of astronomers, including Lucy D’Escoffier Crespo da Silva and Richard P. Binzel, used observations made between 1998 through 2000 to determine the spin-vector alignment of the Koronis family of asteroids, including 277 Elvira. The collaborative work resulted in the creation of 61 new individual rotation lightcurves to augment previous published observations.[3]
Measurements of the thermal inertia of 277 Elvira give a value of around 190 J m−2 K−1 s−1/2, compared to 50 for lunar regolith and 400 for coarse sand in an atmosphere.