Discovered by J. C. Watson Alternative names 1955 QA Observation arc 144.93 yr (52936 d) Asteroid group Asteroid belt | Discovery date 11 July 1868 Minor planet category Main belt Discovered 11 July 1868 Orbits Sun Discoverer James Craig Watson | |
Aphelion 3.61005 AU (540.056 Gm) Similar 34 Circe, 128 Nemesis, 61 Danaë, 80 Sappho, 76 Freia | ||
100 Hekate (/ˈhɛkətiː/ HEK-ə-tee) is a large main-belt asteroid. It orbits in the same region of space as the Hygiea asteroid family, though it is actually an unrelated interloper. Its albedo of 0.19 is too high, and it is of the wrong spectral class to be part of the dark carbonaceous Hygiea family. It is listed as a member of the Hecuba group of asteroids that orbit near the 2:1 mean-motion resonance with Jupiter.
Hekate was the 100th asteroid to be discovered, by J. C. Watson (his fourth discovery) on July 11, 1868. It is named after Hecate, the goddess of witchcraft in Greek mythology, but its name also commemorates it as the hundredth asteroid, as hekaton is Greek for 'hundred'.
A Hekatean occultation of a star was observed on July 14, 2003, from New Zealand.