| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Joel Hastings Metcalf |
| Discovery site | Winchester, Massachusetts |
| Discovery date | 9 February 1912 |
| Designations | |
| (729) Watsonia | |
| Pronunciation | /wɒtˈsoʊniə/[1] |
| 1912 OD | |
| Orbital characteristics[2] | |
| Epoch 31 July 2016 (JD 2457600.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 98.79 yr (36082 d) |
| Aphelion | 3.0270 AU (452.83 Gm) |
| Perihelion | 2.4917 AU (372.75 Gm) |
| 2.7594 AU (412.80 Gm) | |
| Eccentricity | 0.096988 |
| 4.58yr (1674.2d) | |
| 223.02° | |
| 0° 12m 54.108s / day | |
| Inclination | 18.042° |
| 124.388° | |
| 88.376° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| 24.575±0.75km | |
| 25.230 h (1.0513 d) | |
| 0.1381±0.009 | |
| 9.31 | |
729 Watsonia is a rare-typeasteroid and namesake of theWatsonia family from the central region of theasteroid belt. It was named after theCanadian-American astronomerJames C. Watson.Watsonia occulted the star54 Leonis (HIP 53417, a 4.3 Magnitude Star) on 2013 Mar 03 at 01:48.[3]
This object is the namesake of theWatsonia family, anAsteroid family of approximately 100 asteroids that share similar spectral properties andorbital elements; hence they may have arisen from the same collisional event. All members have a relatively highorbital inclination.[4]
_mathilde.jpg) | This article about an asteroid native to theasteroid belt is astub. You can help Wikipedia byadding missing information. |
