96 Aegle

96 Aegle is a carbonaceous asteroid and the namesake of the Aegle family located in the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately Template:Convert in diameter. It was discovered on 17 February 1868, by French astronomer Jérôme Coggia at the Marseille Observatory in southeastern France.<ref name="MPC-object" /> The rare T-type asteroid has a rotation period of 13.8 hours and has been observed several times during occultation events.<ref name="lcdb" /> It was named after Aegle ("brightness"), one of the Hesperides (nymphs of the evening) from Greek mythology.<ref name="springer" />Template:Efn

Orbit and classification

Aegle is the parent body of the Aegle family (Template:Small), a very small asteroid family of less than a hundred known members.<ref name="Ferret" /><ref name="Nesvorny-2014" />Template:Rp It orbits the Sun in the outer asteroid belt at a distance of 2.6–3.5 AU once every 5 years and 4 months (1,948 days; semi-major axis of 3.05 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.14 and an inclination of 16° with respect to the ecliptic.<ref name="jpldata" /> The body's observation arc begins at Litchfield Observatory Template:Obscode in August 1870, two and a half years after its official discovery observation at Marseille.<ref name="MPC-object" />

Physical characteristics

In both the Tholen and SMASS classification as well as in the Bus–DeMeo taxonomy, Aegle is a rare, anhydrous T-type asteroid,<ref name="jpldata" /> while the overall spectral type for the Aegle family is typically that of a C- and X-type.<ref name="Nesvorny-2014" />Template:Rp

Rotation period

Photometric observations of the asteroid by American photometrist Frederick Pilcher from his Organ Mesa Observatory Template:Obscode in New Mexico during 2016−17 showed an irregular lightcurve with a synodic rotation period of 13.868 hours and an amplitude of 0.11 in magnitude (Template:Small).<ref name="Pilcher-2017f" />Template:Efn

This result is in good agreement with two previous observations by Robert Stephens, and by Cyril Cavadore and Pierre Antonini who measured a period of 13.82 hours and a brightness variation of 0.12 and 0.05, respectively (Template:Small).<ref name="geneva-obs" /><ref name="Stephens-2005a" /> Other rotational lightcurves obtained by Alan Harris (10 h; 1980),<ref name="Harris-1989b" /> by Italian (10.47 h; 2000),<ref name="Blanco-2000a" /> and Swiss/French astronomers (13.82 h; 2005),<ref name="geneva-obs" /> and at the Colgate University (26.53 h; 2001),<ref name="Slivan-2001" /> are of poor quality (Template:Small).<ref name="lcdb" />

Diameter and albedo

According to the surveys carried out by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite IRAS, the Japanese Akari satellite and the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Aegle measures between 156 and 178 kilometers in diameter and its surface has a low albedo between 0.048 and 0.056.<ref name="Marchis-2006c" /><ref name="AKARI" /><ref name="SIMPS" /><ref name="Masiero-2012" /> The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.058 and calculates a diameter of 162.85 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 7.65.<ref name="lcdb" /> It has an estimated mass of Template:Val with a density of Template:Val.<ref name="Carry-2012" />

Occultations

Aegle has been observed occulting stars several times. On 5 January 2010, it occulted the star Template:Mp as seen from Ibaraki, Japan, and allowed to determine a cross-section of Template:Val kilometers.Template:Efn In New Zealand, on 18 February 2002, it occulted the star Template:Mp in the constellation of Centaurus for approximately 12.7 seconds during which a drop of 2.1 in magnitude was to be expected.Template:Efn

Naming

This minor planet was named after Aegle) one of the Hesperides in Greek mythology. The official naming citation was mentioned in The Names of the Minor Planets by Paul Herget in 1955 (Template:Small).<ref name="springer" />Template:Efn

External links

• Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB), query form (info Template:Webarchive)
• Dictionary of Minor Planet Names, Google books
• Asteroids and comets rotation curves, CdR – Observatoire de Genève, Raoul Behrend
• Discovery Circumstances: Numbered Minor Planets (1)-(5000) – Minor Planet Center
• Template:AstDys
• Template:JPL small body