Discovery date 23 August 1872 Observation arc 143.65 yr (52468 d) Discovered 23 August 1872 Discovery site Litchfield Observatory | Minor planet category Main belt Aphelion 2.8288 AU (423.18 Gm) Orbits Sun Named after Alcestis | |
Perihelion 2.43166 AU (363.771 Gm) Discoverer Christian Heinrich Friedrich Peters Similar 188 Menippe, 196 Philomela, 167 Urda, 165 Loreley, 193 Ambrosia | ||
124 Alkeste is a large main-belt asteroid. It is an S-type in composition. C.H.F. Peters discovered the asteroid on August 23, 1872, from the observatory at Hamilton College, New York State. The name was chosen by Adelinde Weiss, wife of the astronomer Edmund Weiss, and refers to Alcestis, a woman in Greek mythology.
Only one stellar occultation by Alkeste has been observed, when the asteroid passed in front of the third magnitude star Beta Virginis on June 24, 2003. The event was observed from Australia and New Zealand.
References
124 Alkeste Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA