| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | F. Kaiser |
| Discovery site | Heidelberg Obs. |
| Discovery date | 1 March 1913 |
| Designations | |
| (745) Mauritia | |
| Pronunciation | /mɒˈrɪʃ(i)ə/[2] |
Named after | Saint Maurice[3] (Christian martyr) |
| A913 EH · 1972 BM 1913 QX | |
| Orbital characteristics[4] | |
| Epoch 31 May 2020 (JD 2459000.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 107.16yr (39,139 d) |
| Aphelion | 3.3943AU |
| Perihelion | 3.1332 AU |
| 3.2638 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.0400 |
| 5.90 yr (2,154 d) | |
| 104.57° | |
| 0° 10m 1.92s / day | |
| Inclination | 13.324° |
| 125.68° | |
| 26.747° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| 9.945±0.001 h[10][a] | |
| C(assumed)[11] | |
745 Mauritia (prov. designation:A913 EHor1913 QX) is a darkbackground asteroid from the outer regions of theasteroid belt, approximately 24 kilometers (15 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 1 March 1913, by German astronomerFranz Kaiser at theHeidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory in Germany.[1] The presumed carbonaceousC-type asteroid has arotation period of 9.9 hours. It was named afterSaint Maurice, patron of the Saint Mauritius church in the city ofWiesbaden, where the discoverer was born.[3]
Mauritia is a non-family asteroid of the main belt'sbackground population when applying thehierarchical clustering method to itsproper orbital elements.[5][6][7] It orbits the Sun in theouter asteroid belt at a distance of 3.1–3.4 AU once every 5 years and 11 months (2,154 days;semi-major axis of 3.26 AU). Its orbit has aneccentricity of 0.04 and aninclination of 13° with respect to theecliptic.[4] The body'sobservation arc begins at Heidelberg on 3 January 1918, almost five years after its official discovery observation.[1]
Thisminor planet was named after 3rd-century Christian martyrSaint Maurice, who is the patron of theSt. Mauritius (Wiesbaden) [de] church inWiesbaden, Germany, where the discoverer was born(also see717 Wisibada). The Swiss villageSaint-Maurice, where he died in AD 287 is also named after Saint Maurice. Thenaming citation was mentioned inThe Names of the Minor Planets byPaul Herget in 1955 (H 75).[3]
Mauritia is an assumed, carbonaceousC-type asteroid due to its low albedo(see below) and its location in the outer asteroid belt.[11] However,D-type andP-type asteroids fulfill the location and albedo-based criteria as well.
In March 2013, a first rotationallightcurve ofMauritia was obtained fromphotometric observations over six nights byFrederick Pilcher at the Organ Mesa Observatory (G50) in New Mexico, United States. Lightcurve analysis gave a well-definedrotation period of9.945±0.001 hours with a brightness variation of0.12±0.02magnitude (U=3).[10][a]
According to the surveys carried out by the JapaneseAkari satellite and theNEOWISE mission of NASA'sWide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE),Mauritia measures (23.23±1.38) and (24.711±0.288) kilometers in diameter and its surface has analbedo of (0.249±0.032) and (0.200±0.023), respectively.[8][9] TheCollaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for acarbonaceous asteroid of 0.057 and calculates a diameter of 44.22 kilometers based on anabsolute magnitude of 10.5. The WISE team also published an alternativemean diameter of (27.004±0.348 km) with an albedo of (0.1696±0.0062).[11]
