28 Bellona Explained

Minorplanet:yes
Background:
  1. D6D6D6
28 Bellona
Symbol: (historical)
Discovered:1 March 1854
Mpc Name:(28) Bellona
Adjective:Bellonian
Epoch:Sept 30, 2012 (JD 2456200.5)
Semimajor:415.608 Gm (2.777 AU)
Perihelion:353.977 Gm (2.358 AU)
Aphelion:477.240 Gm (3.196 AU)
Eccentricity:0.151
Period:1690.19 d (4.63 a)
Inclination:9.430°
Asc Node:144.330°
Arg Peri:344.461°
Mean Anomaly:121.574°
Dimensions:97 ± 11 km
120.9 ± 3.4 km (IRAS)
108.10 ± 11.49 km
Density:3.95 ± 1.28 g/cm3
Rotation:15.706 h[1]
Spectral Type:S 
Abs Magnitude:7.09
Albedo:0.1763[2]

28 Bellona is a large main-belt asteroid. It was discovered by German astronomer R. Luther on March 1, 1854, and named after Bellōna, the Roman goddess of war; the name was chosen to mark the beginning of the Crimean War. Its historical symbol was Bellona's whip and spear; it is in the pipeline for Unicode 17.0 as U+1CECE .[3] [4]

Bellona is a stony (S-type) asteroid with a cross-section size of around 100–120 km. 28 Bellona is orbiting the Sun with a period of 4.63 years.

Bellona has been studied by radar.[5] Photometric observations of this asteroid at the Palmer Divide Observatory in Colorado Springs, Colorado in 2007 gave a light curve with a period of 15.707 ± 0.002 hours and a brightness variation of 0.27 ± 0.03 in magnitude. This report is in close agreement with a period estimate of 15.695 hours reported in 1983, and rejects a longer period of 16.523 hours reported in 1979.

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Archived copy . 12 August 2006 . 13 September 2006 . https://web.archive.org/web/20060913103925/http://www.psi.edu/pds/asteroid/EAR_A_5_DDR_DERIVED_LIGHTCURVE_V8_0/data/lc.tab . dead .
  2. Web site: Archived copy . 12 August 2006 . 22 July 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120722014301/http://sbn.psi.edu/pds/asteroid/EAR_A_5_DDR_ALBEDOS_V1_1/data/albedos.tab . dead .
  3. Web site: Unicode request for historical asteroid symbols . Bala . Gavin Jared . Miller . Kirk . 18 September 2023 . unicode.org . Unicode . 26 September 2023 .
  4. Web site: Proposed New Characters: The Pipeline . Unicode . unicode.org . The Unicode Consortium . 6 November 2023 .
  5. Web site: Radar-Detected Asteroids and Comets . NASA/JPL Asteroid Radar Research . 2011-10-30.