99 Dike

99 Dike
Three-dimensional model of 99 Dike created based on light-curve.
Discovery[1]
Discovered byAlphonse Borrelly
Discovery date28 May 1868
Designations
(99) Dike
Pronunciation/ˈdk/[2]
Named after
Dike
A915 BA; 1935 UC; 1935 YL; 1939 UT; 1948 UE; 1948 WC; 1961 XJ; 1974 VB
Main belt
AdjectivesDikean /dˈkən/
Orbital characteristics[3][4]
Epoch 31 July 2016 (JD 2457600.5)
Uncertainty parameter 0
Observation arc101.25 yr (36980 d)
Aphelion3.18448 AU (476.391 Gm)
Perihelion2.14561 AU (320.979 Gm)
2.66504 AU (398.684 Gm)
Eccentricity0.19491
4.35 yr (1589.1 d)
18.07 km/s
18.1950°
0° 13m 35.551s / day
Inclination13.8487°
41.5307°
195.413°
Earth MOID1.13747 AU (170.163 Gm)
Jupiter MOID1.82393 AU (272.856 Gm)
TJupiter3.316
Physical characteristics
Dimensions69.04±2.7 km
Mass~3.9×1017 kg
Mean density
2.0? g/cm3
Equatorial surface gravity
~0.0201 m/s2
Equatorial escape velocity
~0.0380 km/s
18.127 h (0.7553 d)[4][5]
0.0627±0.005[4]
0.058 [6]
Temperature~172 K
C (Tholen)
Xk (Bus)[7]
9.43

99 Dike (/ˈdk/) is a quite large and dark main-belt asteroid. Dike was discovered by Alphonse Borrelly on May 28, 1868. It was his first asteroid discovery. This object is named after Dike, the Greek goddess of moral justice. Among the first hundred numbered minor planets, 99 Dike was considered anomalously faint for over a century. However, this was later found to be untrue.[8]

This asteroid is orbiting the Sun with a period of 4.35 years and an eccentricity of 0.19. Its orbital plane is inclined by 13.8° to the plane of the ecliptic. The body spans a diameter of 69 km and it is classified as a C-type asteroid, which indicates it has a dark, carbonaceous surface. Based upon a light curve that was generated from photometric observations of this asteroid at Pulkovo Observatory, it has a rotation period of 18.127 ± 0.002 hours and varies in brightness by 0.22 ± 0.02 in magnitude.[5] However, according to Shrindan E. (2009) the rotation period is rather of 10.360 ± 0.001 h.[9]

The asteroid is located near the Juno clump of asteroids, but is most likely unrelated.[citation needed]

  1. ^ "Discovery Circumstances: Numbered Minor Planets". Archived from the original on 17 November 1999.
  2. ^ 'Dice, Dike' in Benjamin Smith (1903) The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
  3. ^ "The Asteroid Orbital Elements Database". astorb. Lowell Observatory.
  4. ^ a b c "99 Dike". JPL Small-Body Database. NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
  5. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Pilcher2011 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Asteroid Data Sets Archived 2009-12-17 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference DeMeo2011 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference Pilcher1979 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference Sheridan2009 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).