 Lightcurve-base 3D-model ofAquitania on the top with an image of the asteroid on the bottom. | |
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | F. Courty |
| Discovery site | Bordeaux Obs. |
| Discovery date | 5 March 1894 |
| Designations | |
| (387) Aquitania | |
| Pronunciation | /ækwɪˈteɪniə/[1] |
Named after | Aquitaine[2] (RomanGallia Aquitania) |
| 1894 AZ · 1945 NA 1948 BG · 1953 EO1 | |
| main-belt · (middle) Postrema[3] | |
| Symbol | .svg) |
| Orbital characteristics[4] | |
| Epoch 4 September 2017 (JD 2458000.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 123.56 yr (45,132 days) |
| Aphelion | 3.3853AU |
| Perihelion | 2.0964 AU |
| 2.7409 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.2351 |
| 4.54yr (1,657 days) | |
| 330.99° | |
| 0° 13m 1.92s / day | |
| Inclination | 18.113° |
| 128.24° | |
| 157.14° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 97.33±3.42 km[5] 100.51±2.9 km[6][4] 105.06±1.34 km[7] |
| Mass | (1.90±0.64)×1018 kg[8] (1.453 ± 0.602/0.284)×1018 kg[9] |
Meandensity | 3.27 ± 1.11 g/cm3[8] 3.041 ± 1.259/0.595 g/cm3[9][a] |
| 24.144 h (1.0060 d)[4] | |
| 0.1900±0.011[6][4] | |
| Tholen =S[4] SMASS =L[4] B–V = 0.881[4] U–B = 0.449[4] | |
| 7.55[4][5][6][7] · 7.44±0.02[10][11] | |
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387 Aquitainia, provisional designation1894 AZ, is a Postremianasteroid from the central regions of theasteroid belt, approximately 101 kilometers in diameter. Discovered byFernand Courty at theBordeaux Observatory in 1894, it was named for the French region ofAquitaine, the former province ofGallia Aquitania in the ancient Roman Empire.[2]
Aquitania was discovered by French astronomerFernand Courty at theBordeaux Observatory on 5 March 1894. It was second of his two asteroid discoveries.[12] The first was384 Burdigala.
Aquitania is the largest member of thePostrema family (541),[3] a mid-sized centralasteroid family of little more than 100 members.[13]: 23 It orbits the Sun in thecentral main-belt at a distance of 2.1–3.4 AU once every 4 years and 6 months (1,657 days). Its orbit has aneccentricity of 0.24 and aninclination of 18° with respect to theecliptic.[4]
In theTholen andSMASS classification,Aquitania is anS-type andL-type asteroid, respectively.[4] Several rotationallightcurves ofAquitania have been obtained from photometric observations since the 1980s. Lightcurve analysis gave a consolidatedrotation period of 24.144 hours with a brightness variation between 0.09 and 0.25magnitude (U=3).
According to the surveys carried out by the Infrared Astronomical SatelliteIRAS, the JapaneseAkari satellite and theNEOWISE mission of NASA'sWide-field Infrared Survey Explorer,Aquitania measures between 97.33 and 105.06 kilometers in diameter and its surface has analbedo between 0.174 and 0.203.[5][6][7]
TheCollaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link adopts the results obtained by IRAS, that is an albedo of 0.19 and a diameter of 100.51 kilometers based on anabsolute magnitude of 7.44.[10]
Thisminor planet was named for the Latin name of the French region ofAquitaine. Under Caesar the Roman region ofGallia Aquitania consisted of the country between the Pyrenees mountains and Garonne river. The region was later expanded to the Loire and Allier rivers under Augustus. The official naming citation was mentioned inThe Names of the Minor Planets byPaul Herget in 1955 (H 42).[2]
