Discovery date 19 September 1870 Observation arc 145.57 yr (53169 d) Discovered 19 September 1870 Discovery site Litchfield Observatory | Minor planet category Main belt Aphelion 2.7461 AU (410.81 Gm) | |
Perihelion 2.12225 AU (317.484 Gm) Discoverer Christian Heinrich Friedrich Peters Similar 188 Menippe, 114 Kassandra, 196 Philomela, 167 Urda, 165 Loreley | ||
112 Iphigenia /ɪfᵻdʒᵻˈnaɪ.ə/ is a fairly large and exceedingly dark main-belt asteroid. Based upon a classification as a C-type asteroid, it has probably a primitive carbonaceous composition. It was discovered by German-American astronomer C. H. F. Peters on September 19, 1870, and named after Iphigenia, the princess sacrificed by her father in Greek mythology. The orbital elements for 112 Iphigenia were published by German astronomer Friedrich Tietjen in 1871.
Photometric observations of this asteroid during 2007 at the Observatorio Astronómico de Mallorca were used to create a light curve plot, which was published in 2010. This showed a relatively long synodic rotation period of 31.385 ± 0.006 hours (1.3 days) and a brightness variation of 0.30 ± 0.02 magnitude during each cycle. These findings agree with independent results reported in 2008, which gave a period of 31.466 ± 0.001 hours.