20 Massalia - Definition and Overview

**20 Massalia**
Discovery
Discoverer	Annibale de Gasparis
Discovery Date	September 19, 1852
Alternate Designations
Category	Main belt (Massalia family)
Orbital Elements Epoch October 22, 2004 (JD 2453300.5)
Eccentricity (e)	0.143
Semi-Major Axis (a)	360.305 G m (2.408 AU)
Perihelion (q)	308.699 Gm (2.064 AU)
Aphelion (Q)	411.911 Gm (2.753 AU)
Orbital Period (P)	1365.261 d (3.74 a)
Mean Orbital Speed	19.09 km/s
Inclination (i)	0.707°
Longitude of the Ascending Node (Ω)	206.530°
Argument of Perihelion (ω)	255.578°
Mean Anomaly (M)	161.641°
Physical Characteristics
Dimensions	145.5 km
Mass	4.8×10¹⁸ kg ^{1 (http://www.psi.edu/pds/archive/lc.html)}
Density	2.7 g/cm³ ^{1 (http://www.psi.edu/pds/archive/lc.html)}
Surface Gravity	0.0599 m/s²
Escape Velocity	0.0975 km/s
Rotation Period	0.3374 d (8.098 h) ^{1 (http://www.psi.edu/pds/archive/lc.html)}
Spectral Class	S
Absolute Magnitude	6.50
Albedo	0.210 ^{2 (http://dorothy.as.arizona.edu/DSN/IRAS/index_iras.html)}
Mean Surface Temperature	~239 K

20 Massalia is a large and fairly bright Main belt asteroid. It is also the largest member of the Massalia family of asteroids.

It was discovered by A. de Gasparis on September 19, 1852. It was found independently the next night by J. Chacornac. His discovery was announced first.

Massalia is the Latin name for Marseilles, where Chacornac made his discovery (de Gasparis was observing from Naples).

External links

Orbital elements for bright asteroids (http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/Ephemerides/Bright/2004/00020.html) from the Minor Planet Center.

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The Minor Planets

(For other objects and regions, see: Binary asteroids, Asteroid moons and the Solar system)

(For a complete listing, see: List of asteroids)

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