52 Europa

52 Europa is an asteroid. It has a diameter of 289 km, and was discovered on February 4, 1858 by H. Goldschmidt. It is named after Europa, one of Zeus's conquests in Greek mythology. Europa is the seventh largest asteroid, and contains somewhat less than 2% of the mass of the entire main belt.

It is a very dark carbonaceous C-type, and the fourth-largest of these. It orbits close to the Hygiea asteroid family, but is not a member. Spectroscopic studies have found evidence of olivines and pyroxenes on the surface^{and there is some indication that there may be compositional differences between different regions^{[http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=1991PhDT.......105S&db_key=AST&data_type=HTML&format=&high=444b66a47d24766}}

Lightcurve data for Europa has been particularly tricky to interpret, so much so for a long time its period of rotation was in dispute (5 and a half, or 11 hours?) despite numerous observations^{It has now been determined that Europa is a prograde rotator, but the exact direction in which its pole points remains ambiguous. The most detailed analysis indicates that it points either towards about ecliptic coordinates (β, λ) = (70°, 55°) or (40°, 255°) with a 10° uncertainty ^[2. This gives an axial tilt of about 14° or 54°, respectively.}

It has been found that reputed cataclysmic variable star CV Aquarii found in 1934, was actually a false misidentification of 52 Europa^{^*}.

52 Europa should not be confused with Jupiter's moon Europa.

References

Supplemental IRAS Minor Planet Survey
T. Michałowski et al Photometry and models of selected main belt asteroids I. 52 Europa, 115 Thyra, and 382 Dodona, Astronomy & Astrophysics, Vol. 416, p. 353 (2004).
G. Michalak Determination of asteroid masses II. (6) Hebe, (10) Hygiea, (15) Eunomia, (52) Europa, (88) Thisbe, (444) Gyptis, (511) Davida and (704) Interamnia, Astronomy & Astrophysics, Vol. 374, p. 703 (2001)
PDS lightcurve data
E. Dotto et al ISO results on bright Main Belt asteroids: PHT–S observations, Astronomy & Astrophysics, Vol. 358, p. 1133 (2000).
S.R. Sawyer A High-Resolution CCD Spectroscopic Survey of Low-Albedo Main Belt Asteroids, PhD thesis, The University of Texas (1991).
P. Schmeer and M.L. Hazen CV Aquarii identified with (52) Europa, Journal of the American Association of Variable Star Observers, Vol. 28, p. 103 (2000).
V. Zappalà, M. di Martino and S. Cacciatori On the ambiguity of rotational periods of asteroids - The peculiar case of 52 Europa, Icarus, Vol. 56, p. 319 (1983).

External links

shape model deduced from lightcurve

Aspects

! Stationary, than retrograde|| Opposition || Distance at opposition|| Brightness at opposition|| Stationary, than prograde || Conjunction to sun

18. December 2004	2. February 2005	1,81989 AE	9,9 mag	21. March 2005	25. September 2005
14. March 2006	3. May 2006	2,18920 AE	10,8 mag	28. June 2006	11. December 2006
19. May 2007	13. July 2007	2,39864 AE	11,0 mag	6. September 2007	12. February 2008
2. August 2008	20. September 2008	2,19974 AE	10,8 mag	13. November 2008	28. April 2009
31. October 2009	18. December 2009	1,83257 AE	10,1 mag	4. February 2010	11. August 2010
8. February 2011	26. March 2011	1,99533 AE	10,5 mag	18. May 2011	9. November 2011
18. April 2012	12. June 2012	2,35248 AE	11,1 mag	6. August 2012	13. January 2013
27. June 2013	18. August 2013	2,33733 AE	10,9 mag	11. October 2013	21. March 2014
18. September 2014	5. November 2014	1,98249 AE	10,5 mag	27. December 2014	22. June 2015
27. December 2015	11. February 2016	1,83583 AE	10,0 mag	29. March 2016	2. October 2016
20. March 2017	9. May 2017	2,22040 AE	10,9 mag	5. July 2017	16. December 2017
25. May 2018	19. July 2018	2,39729 AE	11,0 mag	11. September 2018	17. February 2019
10. August 2019	27. September 2019	2,16881 AE	10,8 mag	20. November 2019	5. May 2020
9. November 2020	26. December 2020	1,81785 AE	10,1 mag	12. February 2021	19. August 2021

Asteroids named from Greek mythology | Main Belt asteroids | C-type asteroids

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References

External links

Aspects