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253 Mathilde
Classification: Main-belt Asteroid          SPK-ID: 2000253
Ephemeris | Orbit Diagram | Orbital Elements | Physical Parameters | Discovery Circumstances ]

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Orbit Diagram
Note: Make sure you have Java enabled on your browser to see the applet. This applet is provided as a 3D orbit visualization tool. The applet was implemented using 2-body methods, and hence should not be used for determining accurate long-term trajectories (over several years or decades) or planetary encounter circumstances. For accurate long-term ephemerides, please instead use our Horizons system.
Orbit Viewer

Additional Notes: the orbits shown in the applet are color coded. The planets are white lines, and the asteroid/comet is a blue line. The bright white line indicates the portion of the orbit that is above the ecliptic plane, and the darker portion is below the ecliptic plane. Likewise for the asteroid/comet orbit, the light blue indicates the portion above the ecliptic plane, and the dark blue the portion below the ecliptic plane.

Orbit Viewer applet originally written and kindly provided by Osamu Ajiki (AstroArts), and further modified by Ron Baalke (JPL).


Orbital Elements at Epoch 2454800.5 (2008-Nov-30.0) TDB
Reference: JPL 123 (heliocentric ecliptic J2000)
 Element Value Uncertainty (1-sigma)   Units 
e .266755211055886 2.8092e-08  
a 2.645441753404595 5.1957e-09 AU
q 1.939756380139099 7.5074e-08 AU
i 6.741388542900605 5.6416e-06 deg
node 179.621337776514 2.4075e-05 deg
peri 157.5118768315754 2.4421e-05 deg
M 249.3060770128574 7.3232e-06 deg
tp 2455283.744601308486
(2010-Mar-28.24460131)
3.2649e-05 JED
period 1571.613434382139
4.30
4.6301e-06
1.268e-08
d
yr
n .2290639619923647 6.7483e-10 deg/d
Q 3.35112712667009 6.5817e-09 AU
  Orbit Determination Parameters
   # obs. used (total)      1666  
   # delay obs. used      1  
   # Doppler obs. used      0  
   data-arc span      44769 days (122.57 yr)  
   first obs. used      1885-12-01  
   last obs. used      2008-06-28  
   planetary ephem.      DE405  
   SB-pert. ephem.      SB405-CPV-2  
   quality code      0  
   fit RMS      .67659  
   data source      ORB  
   producer      Otto Matic  
   solution date      2008-Sep-19 12:57:06  

Additional Information
 Earth MOID = .931272 AU 
 T_jup = 3.332 
[ show covariance matrix ]

Ephemeris | Orbit Diagram | Orbital Elements | Physical Parameters | Discovery Circumstances ]

Physical Parameter Table
Parameter Symbol Value Units Sigma Reference Notes
absolute magnitude H 10.20 mag n/a IRAS-A-FPA-3-RDR-IMPS-V6.0 IRAS observations used: 20
diameter diameter 52.8 km n/a n/a Yeomans E-mail 2001-Apr-04
GM GM 0.00689 km^3/s^2 0.00030 Yeomans et al. (1997) Science v.278, pp.2106-2109  
bulk density density 1.3 g/cm^3 0.2 Yeomans et al. (1997) Science v.278, pp.2106-2109 based on a nominal volume of 78000 km^3 (with lower/uppper limits of 67000/90000 km^3)
rotation period rot_per 417.7 h n/a IAU Lightcurve Data
(A.W. Harris, E-mail Mar. 2006)
"Tumbling" (non-principal axis rotational motion), alternate(s): 250.
Published Reference List:
[Mottola, S., Sears, W.D., Erikson, A., Harris, A.W., Young, J.W., Hahn, G., Dahlgren, M., Mueller, B.E.A., Owen, W., Gil-Hutton, R., Licandro, J., Barruci, M.A., Angeli, C., Neukum, G., Lagerkvist, C.-I., Lahulla, J.F.: 1995, Planet. Space Sci. 43, 1609-1613.]
[Pravec, P., plus 19 co-authors: 2005, Icarus 173, 108-131.]
geometric albedo albedo 0.0436   0.004 IRAS-A-FPA-3-RDR-IMPS-V6.0 IRAS observations used: 20
SMASSII spectral type spec_B Cb   n/a EAR-A-5-DDR-TAXONOMY-V4.0 based on a high-resolution spectrum by Xu et al. (1995) or Bus and Binzel (2002)

253 Mathilde           Discovered 1885-Nov-12 by Palisa, J. at Vienna
Reference: DISCOVERY.DBLast Updated: 2003--0-8-

Alternate Designations
 1949 OL1 = A915 TN 
Ephemeris | Orbit Diagram | Orbital Elements | Physical Parameters | Discovery Circumstances ]
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