Oppavia (minor planet designation: 255 Oppavia) is a sizeable Main belt asteroid. It was discovered by Austrian astronomer Johann Palisa on 31 March 1886 in Vienna and was named after Opava, a town in the Czech Republic, then part of Austria-Hungary, where Palisa was born.[3] It is orbiting the Sun at a distance of 2.75 AU with an orbital eccentricity (ovalness) of 0.077 and a period of 4.55 yr. The orbital plane is inclined by an angle of 9.47° to the plane of the ecliptic.[1]
Discovery | |
---|---|
Discovered by | Johann Palisa |
Discovery date | 31 March 1886 |
Designations | |
(255) Oppavia | |
Pronunciation | /ɒˈpeɪviə/ |
Named after | Opava |
A886 FB, 1904 EC 1924 TA, 1938 VC 1938 XC, 1945 GD 1951 SG | |
Main belt | |
Orbital characteristics[1] | |
Epoch 31 July 2016 (JD 2457600.5) | |
Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
Observation arc | 129.86 yr (47,431 d) |
Aphelion | 2.959 AU (442.6 Gm) |
Perihelion | 2.533 AU (379.0 Gm) |
2.746 AU (410.8 Gm) | |
Eccentricity | 0.077427 |
4.551 yr (1,662.1 d) | |
Average orbital speed | 17.98 km/s |
261.139° | |
0° 12m 59.735s / day | |
Inclination | 9.47209° |
13.6708° | |
156.011° | |
Physical characteristics | |
Dimensions | 57.40±1.5 km |
19.499 h (0.8125 d) | |
0.0374±0.002 | |
X[2] | |
10.39 | |
Photometric observations made during 2013 indicate a synodic rotation period of 19.499±0.001 h with an amplitude of 0.16±0.02 in magnitude. The unusual light curve shows three uneven minima and maxima per cycle.[4] In 1995, 255 Oppavia was suggested as a peripheral member of the now defunct Ceres asteroid family,[5] but was found to be an unrelated interloper on the basis of its non-matching spectral type. It classified as a dark X-type asteroid in the Tholen taxonomy.[2]