269 Justitia is a fairly sizeable main belt asteroid around 50 km in diameter.
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Johann Palisa |
| Discovery date | 21 September 1887 |
| Designations | |
| (269) Justitia | |
| Pronunciation | /dʒʌˈstɪʃiə/[1] |
Named after | Justitia |
| A887 SA, 1942 XY | |
| Main belt | |
| Orbital characteristics[2] | |
| Epoch 31 July 2016 (JD 2457600.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 126.16 yr (46080 d) |
| Aphelion | 3.17477 AU (474.939 Gm) |
| Perihelion | 2.0555 AU (307.50 Gm) |
| 2.61515 AU (391.221 Gm) | |
| Eccentricity | 0.21399 |
| 4.23 yr (1544.7 d) | |
| 219.582° | |
| 0° 13m 59.016s / day | |
| Inclination | 5.4799° |
| 156.759° | |
| 119.62° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 53.62±1.3 km |
| 33.128 h (1.3803 d) | |
| 0.0974±0.005 | |
| 9.7 | |
It was discovered by Johann Palisa on 21 September 1887 in Vienna.
The asteroid was named after Justitia, the Roman equivalent of Themis, the Greek goddess of justice (she also has an asteroid named after her, 24 Themis).
As discovered in 2021, the asteroid has a very red color due to tholins on its surface, similar to trans-Neptunian objects. It is therefore thought to have formed in the outer Solar System despite its current orbit within the asteroid belt.[3]
The asteroid will be visited by the United Arab Emirates’ MBR Explorer mission, which will attempt to land on its surface in 2034.[4][5]
- ^ “justitium”. Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
- ^ “269 Justitia”. JPL Small-Body Database. NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
- ^ Hasegawa, Sunao; Marsset, Michaël; Demeo, Francesca E.; Bus, Schelte J.; Geem, Jooyeon; Ishiguro, Masateru; Im, Myungshin; Kuroda, Daisuke; Vernazza, Pierre (2021), “Discovery of two TNO-like bodies in the asteroid belt”, The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 916 (1): L6, arXiv:2106.14991, Bibcode:2021ApJ…916L…6H, doi:10.3847/2041-8213/ac0f05, S2CID 235669878
- ^ “UAE announces space mission to land MBR Explorer on asteroid 5 billion kilometres away”. Arabian Business. 29 May 2023. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
- ^ “Touring Through the Asteroid Belt: United Arab Emirates Unveils Bold Mission”. SpaceRef. 29 May 2023. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
- 269 Justitia at AstDyS-2, Asteroids—Dynamic Site
- 269 Justitia at the JPL Small-Body Database
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