70 Panopaea

70 Panopaea

Discovery
Discovered by	Hermann Mayer Salomon Goldschmidt
Discovery site	Paris Observatory
Discovery date	5 May 1861
Designations
MPC designation	70
Named after	Panopea
Minor planet category	main belt
Orbital characteristics
Epoch 30 November 2008
Aphelion	3.0903 AU
Perihelion	2.1402 AU
Semi-major axis	2.61526 AU
Eccentricity	0.181641
Orbital period	1544.79 days (4.23 years)
Mean anomaly	264.193°
Inclination	11.584°
Longitude of ascending node	47.783°
Argument of perihelion	256.016°
Physical characteristics
Dimensions	122.17 kilometres (75.91 mi) ± 2.3 kilometres (1.4 mi) Mean diameter
Mass	(4.33 ± 1.09) × 1018 kg
Mean density	3.48 ± 1.05 g/cm3
Rotation period	15.87 ± 0.04 hours
Albedo	0.0675 ± 0.003
Spectral type	C
Absolute magnitude (H)	8.11

70 Panopaea (/ˈpænəˈpiːə/ PAN-ə-PEE-ə) is a large main belt asteroid. Its orbit is close to those of the Eunomia asteroid family; however, Panopaea is a dark, primitive carbonaceous C-type asteroid in contrast to the S-type asteroids of the Eunomian asteroids.

Panopaea was discovered by Hermann Goldschmidt on 5 May 1861. It was his fourteenth and last asteroid discovery. It is named after Panopea, a nymph in Greek mythology; the name was chosen by Robert Main, President of the Royal Astronomical Society.

The orbit of 70 Panopaea places it in a mean motion resonance with the planets Jupiter and saturn. The computed Lyapunov time for this asteroid is 24,000 years, indicating that it occupies a chaotic orbit that will change randomly over time because of gravitational perturbations of the planets.

The asteroid frequently makes close approaches with 16 Psyche, such as on June 12, 2040 when it will make a close approach of 0.00602 AU (2.34 Lunar distances) to the asteroid, and on June 2, 2095 when it will come only 0.003372 AU (1.31 LD) to the asteroid.