349 Dembowska

Minor Planet | name=349 Dembowska
discoverer=Auguste Charlois
discovery_date=December 9, 1892
designations=1892 T
category=Main belt
epoch=30 January, 2005 (JD 2453400.5)
semimajor=437.812 Gm (2.927 AU)
perihelion=399.743 Gm (2.672 AU)
aphelion=475.88 Gm (3.181 AU)
eccentricity=0.087
period=1828.662 d (5.00 a)
inclination=8.256°
asc_node=32.5°
arg_peri=347.171°
mean_anomaly=198.148°
speed=17.41 km/s
dimensions=~140 kmcite web
title=JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 349 Dembowska (1892 T)
url=http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=349
accessdate=2008-05-02]
mass="unknown"
density="unknown"
gravity="unknown"
escape_velocity="unknown"
rotation=4.701207 ± 0.000058 h
spectral_class=R
abs_mag=5.93
albedo=0.384 (Bright)
temperature=~148 K

Asteroid 349 Dembowska is named in honor of the Baron Hercules Dembowski, an Italian astronomer who made significant contributions to research on double and multiple stars. The asteroid was discovered over a century ago on December 9, 1892, by the French astronomer Auguste Charlois while working at the observatory in Nice, France. [Charlois, A.; [http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1893AN....132..175C "Benennung von kleinen Planeten"] , Astronomische Nachrichten, Vol. 132, No. 3155, p. 175] Located just prior to the prominent 7:3 resonance with Jupiter, 349 Dembowska is among the larger asteroids in the main belt with an estimated diameter of ~140 km.Majaess D. J., Tanner J., Savoy J., Sampson B. (2008). [http://www.minorplanetobserver.com/mpb/MPB%2035-2.pdf "349 Dembowska: A Minor Study of its Shape and Parameters"] , Minor Planet Bulletin, 35, 88] It has a rotational period of 4.7012 hours, and is classified as an R-Type asteroid due to the presence of strong absorption lines in olivine and pyroxene with little or no metals.

349 Dembowska is a large main belt asteroid with an unusually high albedo of 0.384. Of the asteroids with a diameter greater than 75 km, only 4 Vesta has a higher known albedo.cite web
title=Asteroid Albedos (JPG)
publisher= [http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb_query.cgi JPL Small-Body Database Search Engine]
url=http://home.comcast.net/~kpheider/albedo.jpg
accessdate=2008-05-02]

It is classified as an R-type asteroid and may have undergone partial melting/differentiation. [ [http://www.aas.org/publications/baas/v37n3/dps2005/618.htm Expanding the Spectral Compositional Information of Asteroid 349 Dembowska] ]

Dembowska and 16 Psyche have orbits that repeat themselves almost exactly every five years in respect to their position to the Sun and Earth.

There was on occultation on October 31, 2006, [cite web
url=http://occsec.wellington.net.nz/planet/2006/updates/061031_349_5642_u.htm
title=OCCULTATION BY (349) DEMBOWSKA - 2006 OCT 31
publisher=Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand] and on December 5, 2007.cite web
url=http://mpocc.astro.cz/2007/a07_12054.pdf
title=349 Dembowska – UCAC2 42014653 (Occultation 2007-12-05 22:43UT)
accessdate=2007-09-22]

References

External links

* [http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/iau/Ephemerides/Bright/2007/00349_1.html (349) Dembowska--Daily Ephemeris for 2007]
* [http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=349;orb=1 Orbital simulation] from JPL (Java) / [http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons.cgi?find_body=1&body_group=sb&sstr=349 Ephemeris]