306 Unitas

Minor Planet | name=306 Unitas
discoverer=Elia Millosevich
discovery_date=March 1, 1891
designations=
category=Main belt
epoch=30 January, 2005 (JD 2453400.5)
semimajor=352.798 Gm (2.358 AU)
perihelion=299.81 Gm (2.004 AU)
aphelion=405.786 Gm (2.713 AU)
eccentricity=0.15
period=1322.79 d (3.62 a)
inclination=7.267°
asc_node=142.046°
arg_peri=167.666°
mean_anomaly=26.267°
speed=19.4 km/s
dimensions=47.0 km
mass="unknown"
density="unknown"
gravity="unknown"
escape_velocity="unknown"
rotation="unknown"
spectral_class=S
abs_mag=8.96
albedo="unknown"
temperature="unknown"

306 Unitas is a typical Main belt asteroid. It is classified as an S-type asteroid.

It was discovered by Elia Millosevich on March 1, 1891 in Rome. The asteroid was named by the director of the Modena Observatory in honor of the Italian astronomer Angelo Pietro Secchi. [ Schmadel Lutz D. Dictionary of Minor Planet Names (fifth edition), Springer, 2003. ISBN-10: 3540002383.]

In the late 1990s, a network of astronomers worldwide gathered lightcurve data that was ultimately used to derive the spin states and shape models of 10 new asteroids, including (306) Unitas. [Durech., J.; Kaasalainen, M., Marciniak, A.; et al., “Physical models of ten asteroids from an observers' collaboration network,” Astronomy and Astrophysics , Volume 465, Issue 1, April I 2007, pp. 331-337 ] [ Durech, J.; Kaasalainen, M.; Marciniak, A.; Allen, W. H. et al. “Asteroid brightness and geometry,” Astronomy and Astrophysics, Volume 465, Issue 1, April I 2007, pp. 331-337.] 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 ] ]

Although 306 Unitas has an orbit similar to the Vesta family asteroids, it was found to be an unrelated interloper on the basis of its non-matching spectral type. Fact|date=March 2008

References