172 Baucis
Baucis (minor planet designation: 172 Baucis) is a large main belt asteroid that was discovered by French astronomer Alphonse Borrelly on February 5, 1877, and named after a fictional character in the Greek legend of Baucis and Philemon. The adjectival form of the name is Baucidian. It is classified as an S-type asteroid based upon its spectrum.
Orbital diagram | |
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | A. Borrelly |
| Discovery date | 5 February 1877 |
| Designations | |
MPC designation | (172) Baucis |
| Pronunciation | /ˈbɔːsɪs/ |
Named after | Baucis |
Alternative designations | A877 CA; 1921 EE |
Minor planet category | Main belt |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Epoch 31 July 2016 (JD 2457600.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 133.62 yr (48806 d) |
| Aphelion | 2.6525 AU (396.81 Gm) |
| Perihelion | 2.1073 AU (315.25 Gm) |
Semi-major axis | 2.3799 AU (356.03 Gm) |
| Eccentricity | 0.11454 |
Orbital period (sidereal) | 3.67 yr (1341.0 d) |
Mean anomaly | 175.49° |
Mean motion | 0° 16m 6.42s / day |
| Inclination | 10.028° |
Longitude of ascending node | 331.98° |
| 359.20° | |
| Earth MOID | 1.09593 AU (163.949 Gm) |
| Jupiter MOID | 2.67257 AU (399.811 Gm) |
| TJupiter | 3.510 |
| Physical characteristics | |
Mean radius | 31.215±0.6 km |
Synodic rotation period | 27.417 h (1.1424 d) |
| 0.1382±0.006 | |
| S | |
| 8.79 | |
Photometric observations of this asteroid from the southern hemisphere during 2003 gave a light curve that indicated a slow synodic rotation period of 27.417 ± 0.013 hours and a brightness variation of 0.25 in magnitude.
Polarimetric study of this asteroid reveals anomalous properties that suggests the regolith consists of a mixture of low and high albedo material. This may have been caused by fragmentation of an asteroid substrate with the spectral properties of CO3/CV3 carbonaceous chondrites.