45 Eugenia

Encyclopedia : 4 : 45 : 45E : 45 Eugenia

**45 Eugenia**
Orbital characteristics ^[1]
CFHT image of Eugenia and Petit-Prince
Orbit type	Main belt
Semimajor axis	2.722 AU
Perihelion distance	2.496 AU
Aphelion distance	2.947 AU
Orbital period	4.49 years
Inclination	6.61°
Eccentricity	0.083
Physical characteristics
Diameter ^[1]	214.6 km
Mass ^[3]	6.07 × 10¹⁸ kg
Density ^[3]	1.2 g/cm³
Rotation period ^[3]	5.699 hours
Spectral class	F
Abs. magnitude ^[1]	7.46
Albedo ^[4]	0.040
History ^[2]
Discoverer	H. Goldschmidt, 1857
Satellites
Name	Petit-Prince

45 Eugenia (ew-jee'-nee-ə ([[Help:Pronunciation respelling key|key]])) is a large Main belt asteroid. It is famed as one of the first asteroids to be found to have a moon orbiting it.

Eugenia was discovered in 1857 by Hermann Goldschmidt. It was named after Empress Eugenia di Montijo, the wife of Napoleon III, and was the first asteroid to be named after a real person, rather than a figure from classical legend (although there had been controversy about whether 12 Victoria was really named for the mythological figure or for Queen Victoria).

Eugenia is a large asteroid, with a diameter of 214 km. It is an F-type asteroid, which means that it is very dark in colouring (darker than soot) with a carbonaceous composition. Like Mathilde, its density appears to be unusually low, indicating that it may be a loosely-packed rubble pile, not a monolithic object.

In 1998, astronomers at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, discovered a small moon orbiting Eugenia. This was the first time an asteroidal moon had been discovered by a ground-based telescope. Eugenia's moon has been named (45) Eugenia I Petit-Prince, after Empress Eugenia's son, the Prince Imperial. The moon is much smaller than Eugenia, about 13 km in diameter, and takes five days to complete an orbit around it.

Aspects

Stationary, than retrograde	Opposition	Distance at opposition	Brightness	Stationary, than prograde	Conjunction to sun
3. April 2005	17. May 2005	1,49474 AU	10,7 mag	4. July 2005	18. January 2006
27. July 2006	10. September 2006	1,80136 AU	11,2 mag	2. November 2006	25. April 2007
20. October 2007	11. December 2007	1,94888 AU	11,6 mag	31. January 2008	25. July 2008
31. January 2009	19. March 2009	1,59748 AU	10,8 mag	2. May 2009	21. November 2009
4. June 2010	20. July 2010	1,59870 AU	10,8 mag	7. September 2010	12. March 2011
11. September 2011	28. October 2011	1,94967 AU	11,6 mag	22. December 2011	9. June 2012
6. December 2012	26. January 2013	1,79951 AU	11,2 mag	13. March 2013	20. September 2013
6. April 2014	21. May 2014	1,49480 AU	10,8 mag	7. July 2014	21. January 2015
30. July 2015	12. September 2015	1,81065 AU	11,2 mag	5. November 2015	26. April 2016
21. October 2016	11. December 2016	1,94505 AU	11,6 mag	1. February 2017	28. July 2017
4. February 2018	18. March 2018	1,58883 AU	10,8 mag	5. May 2018	24. November 2018
8. June 2019	26. July 2019	1,60759 AU	10,8 mag	10. September 2019	13. March 2020
12. September 2020	31. October 2020	1,95317 AU	11,6 mag	23. December 2020	11. June 2021

External links

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For other objects and regions, see: , , asteroid moons and the Solar system
For a complete listing, see: List of asteroids. See also Pronunciation of asteroid names and Meanings of asteroid names.

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