| Minorplanet: | yes |
| Background: |
|
| 88 Thisbe | |
| Discoverer: | Christian Heinrich Friedrich Peters |
| Discovered: | 15 June 1866 |
| Mpc Name: | (88) Thisbe |
| Pronounced: | [1] |
| Named After: | Thisbē |
| Adjectives: | Thisbean, |
| Mp Category: | Main belt |
| Epoch: | 31 December 2006 (JD 2454100.5) |
| Eccentricity: | 0.165 |
| Inclination: | 5.219° |
| Asc Node: | 276.765° |
| Arg Peri: | 36.591° |
| Mean Anomaly: | 165.454° |
| Dimensions: | c/a = (255×232×193)±12 km |
| Mean Diameter: | [2] 225 km 232 km (Dunham) |
| Mass: | 18.3 kg 1.5 kg |
| Density: | |
| Rotation: | 6.04 h |
| Spectral Type: | B |
| Abs Magnitude: | 7.04 |
| Albedo: | 0.057 0.067[3] |
88 Thisbe is the 13th largest main-belt asteroid. It was discovered by C. H. F. Peters on 15 June 1866, and named after Thisbe, heroine of a Roman fable. This asteroid is orbiting the Sun at a distance of with a period of 1681.709days and an orbital eccentricity (ovalness) of 0.165. The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 5.219° to the ecliptic.
On 7 October 1981, asteroid 88 Thisbe was observed to occult the 9th-magnitude star SAO 187124 from 12 sites. The timing of the different chords across the asteroid provided a diameter estimate of . This is 10% larger than the diameter estimate based on radiometric techniques.[4] During 2000, 88 Thisbe was observed by radar from the Arecibo Observatory. The return signal matched an effective diameter of 207 ± 22 km. This is consistent with the asteroid dimensions computed through other means.
Photometric observations of this asteroid during 1977 gave a light curve with a period of 6.0422 ± 0.006 hours and a brightness variation of 0.19 in magnitude.
Thisbe has been perturbed by asteroid 7 Iris and in 2001 Michalak estimated it to have a mass of 15 kg.[5] But Iris is strongly perturbed by many minor planets such as 10 Hygiea and 15 Eunomia.[5]
In 2008, Baer estimated Thisbe to have a mass of 10.5 kg.[6] In 2011 Baer revised this to 18.3 kg with an uncertainty of 1.1 kg.[6]