10 Hygiea is an Asteroid

in #astronomy6 years ago


Image Source    Lightcurve-based 3D-model of Hygiea

10 Hygiea is located in the asteroid belt and according to its volume and mass is the fourth largest asteroid. The asteroid is oblong in diameter (350-500 km) and with a mass of 8.67 × 10^19 kg is 2.9% of the total mass of the belt. It is the largest of the C-type asteroids with a carbon-rich surface. Hygiea was discovered by Italian astronomer Annibale de Gasparis on 12 April 1849. The asteroid is named after the Greek goddess of health.

Due to the dark surface and farther-than-average distance from the Sun, Hygiea appears very dim when observed from Earth. Hygiea has a magnitude that is four magnitudes dimmer than Vesta (2nd largest asteroid in the asteroid belt). With a 100 mm (4in) telescope, Hygiea can be viewed from Earth.

The rotation of Hygiea is very slow, it takes 27 hours and 37 minutes for a complete rotation, compared to 6 to 12 hours for other large asteroids. The direction of rotation is unclear at the moment. The time taken to complete a revolution around the Sun is 2,034.3 days. The average orbital speed of the asteroid is 16.76 km/s.

The Aphelion (farthest from the Sun) distance is 3.5024 AU whereas the Perihelion (closest to the Sun) distance is 2.7817 AU. It has a gravity of 0.091 m/s². The dimension of the asteroid is 530 × 407 × 370 km. Surface area is 837,080.744 sq km and the Escape velocity is 0.091 m/sec.


Source: Wikipedia


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