Minor planet category Main belt Aphelion 2.7896 AU (417.32 Gm) Orbits Sun Discoverer James Craig Watson Discovery site Detroit Observatory | Discovery date 3 April 1872 Observation arc 143.99 yr (52593 d) Discovered 3 April 1872 | |
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Perihelion 2.37335 AU (355.048 Gm) James Craig Watson discoveries 132 Aethra, 161 Athor, 174 Phaedra | ||
119 Althaea is a main-belt asteroid that was discovered by Canadian-American astronomer J. C. Watson on April 3, 1872, and named after Althaea, the mother of Meleager in Greek mythology. Two occultations by Althaea were observed in 2002, only a month apart.
Based upon its spectrum, this is classified as an S-type asteroid. Photometric observations made in 1988 at the Félix Aguilar Observatory produced a light curve with a period of 11.484 ± 0.010 hours with a brightness variation of 0.365 ± 0.010 in magnitude.
References
119 Althaea Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA