This article is about the collisional asteroid family. For the dynamical group this family is part of, see Hungaria asteroid.
The Hungaria family (003[1]) is a collisional asteroid family of at least 2,966 known asteroids,[2] named for its largest member, the 11-kilometre (6.8 mi)-across asteroid 434 Hungaria. It lies within the larger dynamical group of Hungaria asteroids, a group of asteroids in the far inner asteroid belt, with semimajor axes of 1.78 to 2.00 AU. All members of the family are bright E-type asteroids with albedos of around 0.35-0.6.
An asteroid family is a group of physically-related asteroids usually created by a collision with an original larger asteroid, with the fragments continuing on similar orbits to the original. This is distinct from a dynamical group in that the members of a dynamical group only share similar orbits because of gravitational interactions with planets, which concentrate asteroids in a particular orbital range. Members of the Hungaria family are both part of the wider Hungaria dynamical group, and fragments of 434 Hungaria. The family is considered a catastrophic asteroid family because 434 Hungaria, its largest member, makes up only a fifth of the family's mass.[3]
The family has been variously estimated to be 205±45 million years,[4] 275 million years,[5] and 400±100 million years old.[6]
^Forgács-Dajka, E.; Sándor, Zs; Sztakovics, J. (1 January 2022). "A survey on Hungaria asteroids involved in mean motion resonances with Mars". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 657: A135. arXiv:2110.11745. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202141719.