324 Bamberga
VLT image of Bamberga | |
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Johann Palisa |
| Discovery date | 25 February 1892 |
| Designations | |
| (324) Bamberga | |
| Pronunciation | /bæmˈbɜːrɡə/ |
Named after | Bamberg |
| Main belt | |
| Adjectives | Bambergian /bæmˈbɜːrdʒiən, -ɡiən/ |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Epoch 31 July 2016 (JD 2457600.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 124.08 yr (45321 d) |
| Aphelion | 3.59442 AU (537.718 Gm) |
| Perihelion | 1.77023 AU (264.823 Gm) |
| 2.68232 AU (401.269 Gm) | |
| Eccentricity | 0.34004 |
| 4.39 yr (1604.6 d) | |
| 225.419° | |
| 0° 13m 27.682s / day | |
| Inclination | 11.1011° |
| 327.883° | |
| 44.2409° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| 227±3 km 234.67 ± 7.80 km 229.4 ± 7.4 km (IRAS) | |
| Flattening | 0.04 |
| Mass | (10.2±0.9)×1018 kg 11×1018 kg (10.3±1.0)×1018 kg |
Mean density | 1.67±0.16 g/cm3 1.52±0.20 g/cm3 |
| 1.226 d 29.43 h (1.226 d) | |
| 0.060 (calculated) 0.0628±0.004 0.050±0.007 | |
| C-type asteroid | |
| 6.82 7.23 | |
324 Bamberga is one of the largest asteroids in the asteroid belt. It was discovered by Johann Palisa on 25 February 1892 in Vienna. It is one of the top-20 largest asteroids in the asteroid belt. Apart from the near-Earth asteroid Eros, it was the last asteroid which is ever easily visible with binoculars to be discovered.
Overall Bamberga is the tenth-brightest main-belt asteroid after, in order, Vesta, Pallas, Ceres, Iris, Hebe, Juno, Melpomene, Eunomia and Flora. Its high eccentricity (for comparison 36% higher than that of Pluto), though, means that at most oppositions other asteroids reach higher magnitudes.