Asteroids by Name

Albert (719)

Until May 2000, asteroid 719 Albert had long eluded astronomers. It had last seen by direct observation in 1911, the year it was discovered by astronomer Johann Palisa (1848-1925) at the Imperial Observatory in Vienna, a world-class observatory of the pre-World War I Austro-Hungarian empire. More

Antiope

= (90) Antiope
This asteroid has a companion, the two being separated by about 170 km. Their orbital period is 16 hours. IAUC 7503

Eugenia

= (45) Eugenia
Eugenia has a satellite called (45) Eugenia I (Petit-Prince). IAUC 7503

Hermes(1937 UB)

Asteroid Hermes, lost for 66 years, is found to be two objects orbiting each other. More

Masi = Asteroid (21795) = 1999 SN9

VESTA (4)

Sunao Hasegawa
JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency)
October 29, 2003

ISAS/JAXA presented that researchers from ISAS/JAXA and other research institutes discovered that evidence of hydrated and/or hydroxylated minerals on the surface of "the smallest terrestrial planet" asteroid 4 Vesta.

Research team from ISAS/JAXA, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Joint Astronomy Centre, University of Tokyo, and Brown University discovered an evidence of hydrated and/or hydroxylated minerals on the surface of the atmosphereless differentiated body 4 Vesta (diameter = 500 km) (See Figure 1) by using the United Kingdom 3.8-m Infrared Telescope, located on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, on UT 1 and 2 March 2003.

Asteroid 4 Vesta located between Mars and Jupiter is thought to include low concentrations of volatile materials due to being experienced high temperature enough to melt the rocks (See Figure 3), and too low gravity to hold the atmosphere.

4 Vesta is unlike the 25143 Itokawa, which will be explored by HAYABUSA (MUSES-C) spacecraft, the "smallest" terrestrial planet with core, mantle and crust.

According to analysis of HED meteorites and simulation of impact, source of hydrated and/or hydroxylated minerals is not Vesta inherent origin but fragments of impactors of carbonaceous chondrites containing material associated with life such as hydrated mineral, hydrocarbons, amino acids. The detection of 3-痠 absorption features from asteroid 4 Vesta may provide clues to the origin of volatile materials on terrestrial planets

This research was carried out in observation time by the international cooperation with Joint Astronomy Centre and the National Astronomical Observatory.

This result will be published in Geophysical Research Letters.

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