Discovered by Henri Joseph Perrotin Minor planet category Main belt Aphelion 2.3169 AU (346.60 Gm) | Discovery date 21 September 1875 Observation arc 124.55 yr (45493 d) Discovered 21 September 1875 Discovery site Toulouse Observatory | |
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Perihelion 2.03252 AU (304.061 Gm) Discoverer Henri Joseph Anastase Perrotin Similar 167 Urda, 188 Menippe, 193 Ambrosia, 162 Laurentia, 157 Dejanira | ||
149 Medusa is a bright-coloured, stony main-belt asteroid that was discovered by French astronomer J. Perrotin on September 21, 1875, and named after the Gorgon Medusa, a snake-haired monster in Greek mythology.
When it was discovered, Medusa was by far the smallest asteroid found (although this was not known at that time). Since then, many thousands of smaller asteroids have been found. It was also the closest asteroid to the Sun discovered up to that point, beating the long-held record of 8 Flora. It remained the closest asteroid to the Sun until 433 Eros and 434 Hungaria were found in 1898, leading to the discovery of two new families of asteroids inward from the 4:1 Kirkwood gap which forms the boundary of the main belt.
Photometric observations of this asteroid at the Organ Mesa Observatory in Las Cruces, New Mexico, during 2010 gave a light curve with a rather long rotation period of 26.038 ± 0.002 hours and a brightness variation of 0.56 ± 0.03 in magnitude.