| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | B. Jekhovsky |
| Discovery site | Algiers Obs. |
| Discovery date | 6 April 1922 |
| Designations | |
| (977) Philippa | |
Named after | Philippe de Rothschild (French financier)[2] |
| A922 GA · 1922 LV A914 YA · 1914 YA A919 XA · 1919 XA | |
| main-belt[1][3] · (outer) background[4][5] | |
| Orbital characteristics[3] | |
| Epoch 31 May 2020 (JD 2459000.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 105.05yr (38,370 d) |
| Aphelion | 3.1990AU |
| Perihelion | 3.0366 AU |
| 3.1178 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.0260 |
| 5.51 yr (2,011 d) | |
| 355.29° | |
| 0° 10m 44.4s / day | |
| Inclination | 15.174° |
| 75.739° | |
| 72.694° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| 15.405±0.005 h[9][a] | |
| 9.9[1][3] | |
977 Philippa (prov. designation:A922 GAor1922 LV) is a largebackground asteroid from the outer regions of theasteroid belt, approximately 65 kilometers (40 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 6 April 1922, by Russian–French astronomerBenjamin Jekhowsky at theAlgiers Observatory in Northern Africa.[1] TheC-type asteroid is likely irregular in shape and has arotation period of 15.4 hours. It was named after French financier BaronPhilippe de Rothschild (1902–1988).[2]
Philippa is a non-family asteroid of the main belt'sbackground population when applying thehierarchical clustering method to itsproper orbital elements.[4][5] It orbits the Sun in theouter asteroid belt at a distance of 3.0–3.2 AU once every 5 years and 6 months (2,011 days;semi-major axis of 3.12 AU). Its orbit has aneccentricity of 0.03 and aninclination of 15° with respect to theecliptic.[3]
The asteroid was first observed as A914 YA (1914 YA) atHeidelberg Observatory in December 1912. The body'sobservation arc begins atVienna Observatory on 1 May 1922, or one month after its official discovery observation at Algiers.[1]
Thisminor planet was named after French financier BaronPhilippe de Rothschild (1902–1988). The official naming citation was mentioned inThe Names of the Minor Planets byPaul Herget in 1955 (H 94).[2]
In theTholen classification-SMASS classification,Philippa is a common carbonaceousC-type asteroid,[3] while in both the Tholen- and SMASS-like taxonomy of theSmall Solar System Objects Spectroscopic Survey (S3OS2), the asteroid is anX-type.[5][10]
In April 2004, a rotationallightcurve ofPhilippa was obtained fromphotometric observations byBrian Warner at thePalmer Divide Observatory in Colorado. Analysis of the classical bimodal lightcurve gave arotation period of15.405±0.005 hours with a high brightness amplitude of0.49±0.02magnitude, indicative of an irregular, non-spherical shape (U=3)[11][9][a]
According to the survey carried out by the Infrared Astronomical SatelliteIRAS, the JapaneseAkari satellite, and theNEOWISE mission of NASA'sWide-field Infrared Survey Explorer,Philippa measures between 65.4 and 65.9 kilometers in diameter and its surface has analbedo between 0.05 and 0.06.[6][7][8] TheCollaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link adopts the results from IRAS, that is, an albedo of 0.0555 and a diameter of 65.67 kilometers based on anabsolute magnitude of 9.67.[11] In April 2014,Philippa was also subject to anasteroid occultation, timed observations when the asteroid passes in front of a distant star. The measurements gave an estimated diameter of 65 kilometers.[5]
