(24) Themis
Template: Infobox Asteroid / Maintenance / Error 1
( 24) Themis is an asteroid of the main asteroid belt, which was discovered on April 5, 1853 by Annibale De Gas Paris. The name derives from Themis, in Greek mythology, the daughter of Uranus and Gaia, from.
Properties
With a diameter of approximately 200 kilometers Themis is one of the largest asteroids of the main belt. It has a dark surface with an albedo of 0.067. Themis rotated at 8 hours and 22 minutes on its own axis.
2008 discovered a telescope in Hawaii (Infrared Telescope Facility ) water ice on the surface of the asteroid. In the journal Nature reported two research teams on the surprising discovery of ice on the surface. Accordingly, the asteroid is wrapped in a thin layer of frozen water. A detailed study based on the absorption behavior in the near-infrared reflectance spectrum confirmed this observation and at the same time they also provide information on organic compounds on the surface of the asteroid.
Themis was also the name of a 1905 by William Henry Pickering allegedly discovered 10 Saturn's moon, whose discovery was never confirmed.