- 259 Aletheia
Minor Planet | name=259 Aletheia
discoverer=C. H. F. Peters
discovery_date=June 28 ,1886
designations=1947 LD
category=Main belt
epoch=30 January ,2005 (JD 2453400.5)
semimajor=469.814 Gm (3.141 AU)
perihelion=412.767 Gm (2.759 AU)
aphelion=526.86 Gm (3.522 AU)
eccentricity=0.121
period=2032.78 d (5.57 a)
inclination=10.815°
asc_node=87.151°
arg_peri=168.896°
mean_anomaly=116.287°
speed=16.81 km/s
dimensions=179.0 km
mass="unknown"
density="unknown"
gravity="unknown"
escape_velocity="unknown"
rotation=15 h
spectral_class=CP
abs_mag=7.76
albedo=0.043
temperature="unknown"259 Aletheia is a very large Main belt
asteroid . It is composed of primitive carbonaceous materials and is very dark in colour, darker than coal.Fact|date=March 2008It was discovered by C. H. F. Peters on
June 28 ,1886 in Clinton, New York.It is named after the Greek goddess Aletheia. [ Schmadel Lutz D. Dictionary of Minor Planet Names (fifth edition), Springer, 2003. ISBN-10: 3540002383.]
Richard P. Binzel andSchelte Bus further added to the knowledge about this asteroid in a lightwave survey published in 2003. This project was known as Small Main-belt Asteroid Spectroscopic Survey, Phase II or SMASSII, which built on a previous survey of the main-belt asteroids. The visible-wavelength (0.435-0.925 micrometre) spectra data was gathered between August 1993 and March 1999. [Bus, S., Binzel, R. P. Small Main-belt Asteroid Spectroscopic Survey, Phase II. EAR-A-I0028-4-SBN0001/SMASSII-V1.0. NASA Planetary Data System, 2003.] [ [http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi#top JPL Small-Body Database Browser ] ]Lightcurve data has also been recorded by observers at the Antelope Hill Observatory, which has been designated as an official observatory by the
Minor Planet Center . [ [http://www.antelopehillsobservatory.org/index_files/Page334.htm Lightcurve Results ] ]References
* [ftp://ftp.lowell.edu/pub/elgb/astorb.html The Asteroid Orbital Elements Database]
* [http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/lists/NumberedMPs.html Minor Planet Discovery Circumstances]
* [http://spiff.rit.edu/richmond/parallax/phot/LCSUMPUB.TXT Asteroid Lightcurve Data File]
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