65 Cybele - Definition and Overview

Related Words: Amor, Aphrodite, Apollo, Apollon, Ares, Artemis, Ate, Athena, Bacchus, Ceres, Cora, Cronus, Cupid, Demeter, Diana, Dionysus, Dis, Eros, Gaea, Gaia, Ge, Hades, Helios, Hephaestus, Hera

**65 Cybele**
Orbital characteristics ^{1 (ftp://ftp.lowell.edu/pub/elgb/astorb.html)}
Orbit type	Main belt (Cybele)
Semimajor axis	3.436 AU
Perihelion distance	3.077 AU
Aphelion distance	3.794 AU
Orbital period	6.37 years
Inclination	3.55°
Eccentricity	0.104
Physical characteristics ^{1 (ftp://ftp.lowell.edu/pub/elgb/astorb.html)}
Diameter	237.3 km
Rotation period ^{3 (http://charlie.psi.edu/pds/)}	4.041 hours
Spectral class	C
Abs. magnitude	6.62
Albedo ^{4 (http://dorothy.as.arizona.edu/DSN/IRAS/index_iras.html)}	0.071
History ^{2 (http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/lists/NumberedMPs.html)}
Discoverer	E. W. Tempel, 1861

65 Cybele is one of the largest asteroids in the main belt. The Cybele asteroids are named after it. As a C-type asteroid it is dark in color and carbonaceous in composition.

It was discovered on March 8 1861 by Ernst Tempel and named after Cybele the earth goddess.

First stellar occultation by Cybele was observed on October 17, 1979 in the Soviet Union. A diameter of 230 km was derived, closely matching the diameter of 237 km determined by the IRAS satellite.

During the same occultation, a hint of a possible 11 km wide satellite was detected. [1] (http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iauc/03400/03439.html)

Copyright 2009 WordIQ.com - Privacy Policy :: Terms of Use :: Contact Us :: About Us
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the this Wikipedia article.