106 Dione Sunday, June 21, 2009

106 Dione
Discovery
Discovered by James Craig Watson
Discovery date October 10, 1868
Designations
Alternate name
Minor planet
category
Main belt
Epoch December 31, 2006 (JD 2454100.5)
Aphelion 556.376 Gm (3.719 AU)
Perihelion 391.585 Gm (2.618 AU)
Semi-major axis 473.981 Gm (3.168 AU)
Eccentricity 0.174
Orbital period 2059.923 d (5.64 a)
Average orbital speed 16.61 km/s
Mean anomaly 161.899°
Inclination 4.616°
Longitude of ascending node 62.400°
Argument of perihelion 329.534°
Physical characteristics
Dimensions 146.6 km
Mass 3.3 × 1018 kg
Mean density ? g/cm³
Equatorial surface gravity 0.0410 m/s²
Escape velocity 0.0775 km/s
Rotation period ? d
Albedo ?
Temperature ~156 K
Spectral type G
Absolute magnitude (H) 7.41

106 Dione is a large main belt asteroid. It probably has a composition similar to 1 Ceres. It was discovered by J. C. Watson on October 10, 1868 and named after Dione, a Titan in Greek mythology. Dione occulted a dim star on January 19, 1983. A diameter of 147 km was observed, closely matching the value acquired by the IRAS satellite.

One of Saturn's satellites is also named Dione.

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