Discovery date 24 May 1873 Observation arc 142.88 yr (52187 d) Discovered 24 May 1873 Orbits Sun Asteroid group Asteroid belt | Minor planet category Main belt Aphelion 2.5979 AU (388.64 Gm) Inclination 4.9602° Discovery site Litchfield Observatory | |
Perihelion 2.26604 AU (338.995 Gm) Discoverer Christian Heinrich Friedrich Peters Similar 188 Menippe, 167 Urda, 165 Loreley, 130 Elektra, 196 Philomela | ||
131 Vala is an inner main-belt asteroid. It was discovered by C. H. F. Peters on May 24, 1873, and named after Völva, a prophetess in Norse mythology. One observation of an occultation of a star by Vala is from Italy (May 26, 2002). 10-µm radiometric data collected from Kitt Peak in 1975 gave a diameter estimate of 34 km.
In the Tholen classification system, it is categorized as an SU-type asteroid, while the Bus asteroid taxonomy system lists it as an K-type asteroid. Photometric observations of this asteroid during 2007 at the Organ Mesa Observatory in Las Cruces, New Mexico were used to create a "nearly symmetric bimodal" light curve plot. This showed a rotation period of 10.359 ± 0.001 hours and a brightness variation of 0.09 ± 0.02 magnitude during each cycle. The result is double the 5.18 hour period reported in the JPL Small-Body Database.
On 2028-Apr-05, Vala will pass 0.0276 AU (4,130,000 km; 2,570,000 mi) from asteroid 2 Pallas.