PARTHENOPE (11)

The video below is a combination of nine CCD images of asteroid Parthenope 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 9:10 PM EST to 1:54 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, Parthenope had a magnitude of 10.7 and was moving around 0.37 arcseconds/ minute.

Parthenope was discovered in 1850 by A. deGasparis in Naples. The asteroids' name holds two meanings. "Parthenope" was the name of a Siren, sometimes described as having a fish's body, who, cast upon the shore, founded the city of Parthenope, now Naples. "Parthenope" was also the name of a temple of the goddess Athena, found in ancient Athens. Parthenope was the 11th asteroid listed in the catalog of asteroids compiled by the International Astronomical Union. It is approximately 2.45 AU from the sun, placing it less than 1 AU from Mars. Interamnia orbits the sun in about 3.84 years. Parthenope's orbit is inclined to the plane of the ecliptic by about 4.62 degrees, most similar to Venus at slightly over three degrees. Its eccentricity is roughly 0.099, similar to the eccentricity of Mars and most nearly circular of the four asteroids studied here. Click here and type "11" to see Interamnia's orbit with respect to the planets (requires Java).