DAPHNE (41)

The video below is a combination of eight CCD images of asteroid Daphne taken on April 1, 2003 and April 2, 2003 with the Bowling Green State University 0.5 meter telescope and CCD. The images were taken from 9:08 PM EST to 1:21 AM EST. Each image was exposed for twenty-five seconds. The time of each exposure is included on the movie screen. On the night of observing, Daphne had a magnitude of 11.3 and was moving around 0.39 arcseconds/ minute.

Daphne was discovered on May 22, 1856 by H. Goldschmidt in Paris, France. The asteroid was named after the Naiad daughter of the river Peneius. Naiad was loved and pursued by Apollo. Not wanting to be loved by the god, Naiad prayed to Gaea to save her and was transformed into a laurel tree moments before Apollo had her in his grasp. Daphne was the 41st asteroid listed in the catalog of asteroids compiled by the International Astronomical Union. It is approximately 2.77 AU from the sun, roughly 1.24 AU from Mars and 2.43 AU from Jupiter. Daphne orbits the sun in about 4.6 years. Daphne's orbit is inclined to the plane of the ecliptic by about 15.76 degrees, closest to Pluto at slightly over 17 degrees. Its eccentricity is roughly 0.27, flatter than any of the nine planets. Click here and type "41" to see Interamnia's orbit with respect to the planets (requires Java).