Petit-Prince (moon)
- W. J. Merline
- L. M. Close
- C. Dumas
- C. R. Chapman
- F. Roddier
- F. Menard
- D. C. Slater
- G. Duvert
- J. C. Shelton
- T. Morgan
Petit -Prince is the larger, outer moon of the main belt asteroid (45 ) Eugenia. He is the first from Earth discovered asteroid moon.
Discovery and designation
Petit -Prince was known as the second asteroid moon Dactyl after November 1, 1998 by William J. Merline, Laird M. Close, Christophe Dumas, Clark R. Chapman, François Roddier, Francois Menard, David C. Slater, Gilles Duvert, J. Chris Shelton and Thomas Morgan on the 3.6 -meter Canada -France - Hawaii Telescope on Mauna Kea discovered in Hawaii. It was the first asteroid moon, was discovered with ground-based telescopes. The Dactyl earlier discovered was accidentally detected by the flyby of the Galileo spacecraft at (243 ) Ida. The discovery was announced on 20 March 1999; the moon was given the provisional designation S/1998 (45 ) 1 2004 1 discovered S/2004 (45 ), a second moon, what the Eugenia system swelled to the second known triple asteroid system.
On 3 October 2000, the Moon of the International Astronomical Union ( IAU) was officially named after the Little Prince by Antoine de Saint- Exupery, who lives on an asteroid called B612 (→ ( 46610 ) Bésixdouze ). The name is a reminder of Napoléon Eugène Louis Bonaparte, the Prince Imperial, the only son of Napoleon III. and Eugénie de Montijo. After his mother Eugénie body of the mother of the moon is named Eugenia.
Web properties
Petit -Prince orbits Eugenia on a prograde, nearly perfect circular orbit 1172-1196 km Distance to the center ( large semi-major axis 1184 km or 11,034 Eugeniaradien ). The orbital eccentricity is 0.010, the orbit is inclined 8.0 ° relative to the equator of Eugenia.
Petit -Prince orbits Eugenia in 4 days, 18 hours and 23 minutes, which in a year is approximately 343.78 Eugenia rounds ( about 4.5 Earth years ).
Physical Properties
Petit -Prince has a diameter estimated at 12.7 km (about 1/17 of the central body ), based on the corresponding Eugenia adopted the same albedo of 4%. The surface is so very dark. Their density is estimated to be 1.12 g/cm3 as Eugenia. It is therefore to assume that Petit -Prince is porous on the inside and one of the Rubble Piles. Another possibility would be a high water ice.