Asteroids

This representation of the physical properties of interesting asteroids includes most of the asteroids larger than about 200 km in diameter. They are portrayed in their correct relative sizes and shapes (the limb of Mars is shown for comparison); colors and albedos are also indicated. The bodies are positioned at their correct relative distances from the Sun. Asteroids located near the top or bottom of the diagram occupy relatively eccentric or inclined orbits (or both), while those shown near the ecliptic plane move in relatively circular, noninclined orbits. Rotation periods, in hours, are given in the lower panel. Among the special smaller asteroids indicated are members of the Flora families larger than 15 km in diameter, but this illustration would be hopelessly cluttered if all asteroids of comparable size were shown - an estimated 1,150 asteroids in the main belt alone have diameters larger than 30 km, yet only five Flora family asteroids attain that size. Note the contact-binary Trojan asteroid 624 Hektor.

The following graph shows the number density of asteroids as a funciton of their distance from the sun. Note that there are peaks and throughs in this density due to exact periodic resonance with Jupiter. Also, the peak above 5 AU is due to the Trojan Asteroids. These asteroids are located approximately at the leading and trailing Lagrangian (i.e. Trojan) of Jupiter's Orbit.

The following drawing is a real plot of the exact planar positions of all inner solar system asteroids with well determined orbits at a specific date in 1997. Note the Trojan Asteroids.

Largest Asteroid Summary

					Rotation		Mean	distance	Orbital	Orbital	Orbital
		Year of		Radius	period		From	Sun	period	eccen-	Inclination
Number	Name	discovery	Discoverer	(km)	(hours)	Albedo	(AU)	(10⁶km)	(years)	tricity	(degrees)

1	Ceres	1801	G.Piazzi	457	9.08	0.1	2.767	413.9	4.61	0.097	10.61
2	Pallas	1802	H.Olbers	261	7.81	0.14	2.771	414.5	4.61	0.18	34.81
4	Vesta	1807	H.Olbers	250	5.34	0.38	2.362	353.4	3.63	0.097	7.14
10	Hygiea	1849	A.De Gasparis	215	-18.4	0.08	3.144	470.3	5.59	0.136	3.84
511	Davida	1903	R.Dugan	168	5.13	0.05	3.178	475.4	5.67	0.171	15.94
704	Interamnia	1910	V.Ceruili	167	8.73	0.06	3.062	458.1	5.36	0.081	17.3
52	Europa	1858	H.Goldschmidt	156	5.63	0.06	3.097	463.3	5.46	0.119	7.44
15	Eunomia	1851	A.De Gasparis	136	6.08	0.19	2.644	395.5	4.3	0.143	11.76
87	Sylvia	1866	N.Pogson	136	5.18	0.04	3.486	521.5	6.52	0.051	10.87
16	Psyche	1852	A. De Gasparis	132	4.2	0.1	2.922	437.1	5	0.1	3.09
31	Euphrosyne	1854	J. Ferguson	-124	5.53	-0.07	3.156	472.1	5.58	0.099	26.34
65	Cybele	1861	E. Tempel	123	6.07	0.06	3.429	513	6.37	0.129	3.55
3	Juno	1804	K. Harding	122	7.21	0.22	2.67	399.4	4.36	0.21@	13
324	Bamberga	1892	J. Palisa	121	29.43	0.06	2.683	401.4	4.41	0.285	11.14
107	Camilla	1868	N. Pogson	118	4.84	-0.06	3.488	521.8	6.5	0.084	9.93
532	Herculina	1904	M. Wolf	116	9.41	0.16	2.772	414.7	4.61	0.184	16.36
451	Patientia	1899	A. Charlois	115	9.73	0.07	3.063	458.2	5.36	0.059	15.24
48	Doris	1857	H. Goldschmidt	113	11.89	-0.06	3.112	465.5	5.48	0.064	6.54
29	Amphitrite	1854	A. Marth	120	5.39	0.16	2.554	382.1	4.08	0.066	6.1
423	Diotima	1896	A. Charlois	119	4.62	0.04	3.068	459	5.37	0.052	11.25
121	Hermione	1872	J. Watson	109	-6.1	0.04	3.451	516.3	6.37	0.089	7.56
13	Egeria	1850	A. De Gasparis	107	7.04	0.1	2.576	385.4	4.14	0.121	16.52
45	Eugenia	1857	H. Goldschmidt	107	5.7	0.05	2.721	.407.1	4.49	0.115	6.6
94	Aurora	1867	J. Watson	106	7.22	0.04	3.158	472.4	5.63	0.068	8.01
7	Iris	1847	J. Hind	102	7.14	0.21	2.386	356.9	3.68	0.21	5.51
702	Alauda	1910	J. Helffrich	101	-8.36	0.06	3.194	477.8	5.71	0.041	20.57
372	Palma	1893	A. Charlois	98	-6.58	0.05	3.146	470.1	5.57	0.156	23.85
128	Nemesis	1872	J. Watson	97	39	0.04	2.75	411.4	4.56	0.088	6.25
6	Hebe	1847	K. Hencke	96	7.27	0.25	2.425	362.8	3.78	0.146	14.79
154	Bertha	1875	Prosper Henry	96	?	0.0@	3.184	476.3	5.68	0.094	21.11
76	Freia	1862	H. d'Arrest	95	9.98	0.03	3.39	507.1	6.3	0.186	2.12
130	Elektra	1873	C. Peters	95	5.22	-0.09	3.119	466.6	5.49	0.218	22.88
22	Kalliope	1852	J. Hind	94	4.15	0.12	2.91	435.3	4.97	0.109	13.7
259	Aletheia	1886	C. Peters	92	?	0.04	3.139	469.6	5.6	0.14	10.77
41	Daphne	1856	H. Goldschmidt	91	5.99	-0.07	2.765	413.6	4.59	0.279	15.78
2060	Chiron	1977	C. Kowal	-90	?	?	13.716	2,051.90	50.8	0.382	6.93
747	Winchester	1913	J. Metcalf	89	9.4	0.05	2.998	448.5	5.18	0.245	18.18
120	Lachesis	1872	A. Borrelly	89	(>20)	0.04	3.118	466.4	5.47	0.088	6.96
790	Pretoria	1912	H. Wood	88	10.37	0.03	3.406	509.5	6.29	0.169	20.55
566	Stereoskopia	1905	P. Gotz	88	?	0.03	3.387	506.7	6.27	0.065	4.92
911	Agamemnon	1919	K. Reinmuth	88	-7	0.04	5.201	778.1	11.9	0.068	21.83
153	Hilda	1875	J. Palisa	87	?	0.06	3.969	593.8	7.92	0.142	7.84
194	Prokne	1879	C. Peters	87	-15.67	0.05	2.616	391.3	4.23	0.166	18.53
96	Aegle	1868	J. Coggia	87	?	0.04	3.051	456.4	5.33	0.164	16
59	Elpis	1860	J. Chacornac	87	13.69	0.05	2.713	405.9	4.47	0.094	8.64
386	Siegena	1894	M. Wolf"	87	9.76	0.06	2.896	433.2	4.93	0.169	20.27

Other Selected Asteroids

Asteroid	Diameter	~Mass	Rotation	Orbital	Spectral	Semimajor	Orbital	Orbital
Number and Name	(km)	1015 kg	Period	Period	Class	Axis	Eccentricity	Inclination

243 Ida	58 x 23	100	4.633 hrs	4.84 yrs	S	2.861 AU	0.0451	1.14 deg
253 Mathilde	66 x 48 x 46	103.3	417.7 hrs	4.31 yrs	C	2.646 AU	0.266	6.71 deg
433 Eros	40 x 14 x 14	5	5.270 hrs	1.76 yrs	S	1.458 AU	0.223	10.83 deg
951 Gaspra	19 x 12 x 11	10	7.042 hrs	3.29 yrs	S	2.209 AU	0.1738	4.10 deg
1566 Icarus	1.4	0.001	2.273 hrs	1.12 yrs	U	1.078 AU	0.8268	22.86 deg
1620 Geographos	2	0.004	5.222 hrs	1.39 yrs	S	1.246 AU	0.3354	13.34 deg
1862 Apollo	1.6	0.002	3.063 hrs	1.81 yrs	S	1.471 AU	0.56	6.36 deg
2060 Chiron	180	4000	5.9 hrs	50.7 yrs	B	13.633 AU	0.3801	6.94 deg
2530 Shipka				5.25 yrs		3.019 AU	0.1237	10.10 deg
2703 Rodari				3.25 yrs		2.194 AU	0.0572	6.04 deg
3352 McAuliffe	2 x 5			2.57 yrs		1.879 AU	0.3686	4.77 deg
3840 Mimistrobell				3.38 yrs		2.249 AU	0.0831	3.92 deg
4179 Toutatis	4.6 x 2.4 x 1.9	0.05	irregular	1.10 yrs	S	2.512 AU	0.6339	0.47 deg
4660 Nereus	2			1.82 yrs		1.490 AU	0.3603	1.42 deg
4769 Castalia	1.8 x 0.8	0.0005		0.41 yrs		1.063 AU	0.4831	8.89 deg
1992 KD	3			3.58 yrs		2.341 AU	0.4336	29.0 deg

243 Ida - Imaged by Galileo on 28 August 1993. This image shows a small satellite, subsequently named Dactyl, in orbit about Ida.
253 Mathilde - Target of NEAR mission flyby on 27 June 1997 en route to 433 Eros.
433 Eros - Near-Earth asteroid scheduled to be studied by the NEAR mission, which will be put into orbit about Eros in February 1999.
951 Gaspra - Imaged by Galileo on 29 Oct 1991.
1566 Icarus - Highly eccentric Earth-crossing orbit.
1620 Geographos - Scheduled to be visited by Clementine before a computer malfunction cut the mission short.
1862 Apollo - Earth-crossing asteroid.
2060 Chiron - Asteroid/Comet (95P/Chiron) in chaotic eccentric orbit near Saturn and Uranus. 14 February 1996 perihelion was the
subject of the Chiron Perihelion Campaign.
2530 Shipka - Originally scheduled for October, 2008 flyby by the Rosetta spacecraft on its way to Comet P/Wirtanen
2703 Rodari - Scheduled for May, 2008 flyby by the Rosetta spacecraft on its way to Comet P/Wirtanen
3352 McAuliffe - Amor (Mars-crossing) asteroid originally scheduled for 1999 flyby by the New Millenium Deep Space 1 spacecraft.
3840 Mimistrobell - Scheduled for September, 2006 flyby by the Rosetta spacecraft on its way to Comet P/Wirtanen.
4179 Toutatis - Double object, probably in contact, one 2.5 km and one 1.5 km diameter (estimated), imaged by Arecibo and Goldstone radar. Close approach to Earth of this object (about 1.5 million km) will occur on 29 September 2004.
4660 Nereus - Near-Earth asteroid, target of ISAS (Japan) Muses-C sample-return mission.
4769 Castalia - Double-lobed near-Earth asteroid, each lobe about .75 km diameter. Imaged by Arecibo radar.
1992 KD - Near-Earth asteroid scheduled for 28 July 1999 flyby by the New Millenium Deep Space 1 spacecraft.

Asteroids/UIUC/sulfridg@uiuc.edu /revised August 98