74 Galatea
Encyclopedia : 7 : 74 : 74G : 74 Galatea
| Orbital characteristics [1] | |
|---|---|
| Orbit type | Main belt |
| Semimajor axis | 2.779 AU |
| Perihelion distance | 2.115 AU |
| Aphelion distance | 3.444 AU |
| Orbital period | 4.63 years |
| Inclination | 4.07° |
| Eccentricity | 0.239 |
| Physical characteristics [1] | |
| Diameter | 118.7 km |
| Rotation period [3] | 9 hours |
| Abs. magnitude | 8.66 |
| Albedo [4] | 0.043 |
| History [2] | |
| Discoverer | E. W. Tempel, 1862 |
74 Galatea (gal'-a-tee'-a) is a large Main belt asteroid. Its surface is very dark in color.
Galatea was found by the prolific comet discoverer Ernst Tempel on August 29, 1862 in Marseilles, France. It was his third asteroid discovery. It is named after one of the two Galateas in Greek mythology.
A stellar occultation by Galatea was observed on September 8, 1987.
The name Galatea has also been given to one of Neptune's satellites.
… | Previous minor planet | | Next minor planet | …
| The minor planets |
|---|
| Vulcanoids | Near-Earth asteroids | Main belt | Jupiter Trojans | Centaurs | Damocloids | Comets | Trans-Neptunians (Kuiper belt · Scattered disc · Oort cloud) |
| 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. |
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.