- 102 Miriam
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102 Miriam Discovery[1]Discovered by Christian Heinrich Friedrich Peters Discovery site Litchfield Observatory Discovery date August 22, 1868 DesignationsMPC designation 102 Named after Miriam Minor planet
categorymain belt [2] Epoch November 30, 2008 Ap 3.3332 AU Peri 1.9929 AU Semi-major axis 2.66303 AU Eccentricity 0.251655 Orbital period 1587.31 days (4.35 years) Mean anomaly 108.084° Inclination 5.176° Longitude of ascending node 210.916° Argument of peri 147.441° Physical characteristicsDimensions 83.00 kilometres (51.57 mi) ± 1.9 kilometres (1.2 mi)
Mean diameter[4]Rotation period 15.789 hours [5] Albedo 0.0507 ± 0.002 [4] Spectral type P (Tholen classification) [6]
C (SMASSII classification) [6]Absolute magnitude (H) 9.26 [7] 102 Miriam is a moderately large, very dark main belt asteroid. It was discovered by C. H. F. Peters on August 22, 1868 from Litchfield Observatory.[1]
Peters named the asteroid after Miriam, the sister of Moses in the Old Testament. This caused some controversy, because at the time, asteroids were expected to be named after mythological figures, and the devout would not regard Biblical figures as such. According to fellow astronomer Edward S. Holden, Peters deliberately chose a name from the Bible so as to annoy an overly pious theology professor of his acquaintance.[8]
References
- ^ a b "Discovery Circumstances: Numbered Minor Planets (1)-(5000)". IAU: Minor Planet Center. http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/iau/lists/NumberedMPs000001.html. Retrieved December 31, 2008.
- ^ "102 Miriam". JPL Small-Body Database. Jet Propulsion Laboratory. http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=102+Miriam. Retrieved December 31, 2008.
- ^ "(102) Miriam". AstDyS. Italy: University of Pisa. http://hamilton.dm.unipi.it/astdys/index.php?pc=1.1.0&n=102. Retrieved 31 December 2008.
- ^ a b Tedesco et al. (2004). "Supplemental IRAS Minor Planet Survey (SIMPS)". IRAS-A-FPA-3-RDR-IMPS-V6.0. Planetary Data System. Archived from the original on 2010-01-17. http://www.webcitation.org/5mqp8r4gD. Retrieved December 31, 2008.
- ^ Johnson (2008). "Lightcurve Analysis of 102 Miriam, 1433 Geramtina, and 2648 Owa". The Minor Planet Bulletin 35 (4): 151–152. Bibcode 2008MPBu...35..150J.
- ^ a b Neese (2005). "Asteroid Taxonomy". EAR-A-5-DDR-TAXONOMY-V5.0. Planetary Data System. Archived from the original on 2010-01-16. http://www.webcitation.org/5mpuUMP1Q. Retrieved December 27, 2008.
- ^ Tholen (2007). "Asteroid Absolute Magnitudes". EAR-A-5-DDR-ASTERMAG-V11.0.. Planetary Data System. http://www.psi.edu/pds/resource/astermag.html. Retrieved December 31, 2008.[dead link]
- ^ Lutz D. Schmadel, Dictionary of Minor Planet Names, p. 25.
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