Discovered by A. Borrelly Minor planet category Main belt (Themis) Aphelion 3.5476 AU (530.71 Gm) Discovered 13 January 1877 Spectral type C-type asteroid | Discovery date 13 January 1877 Observation arc 122.15 yr (44615 d) Perihelion 2.7175 AU (406.53 Gm) Orbits Sun Discovery site Marseille Observatory | |
Similar 360 Carlova, 218 Bianca, 165 Loreley, 423 Diotima, 167 Urda | ||
171 Ophelia is a large, dark Themistian asteroid that was discovered by French astronomer Alphonse Borrelly on January 13, 1877, and named after the fictional character Ophelia in Shakespeare's play Hamlet.
This asteroid is a member of the Themis family of asteroids that share similar orbital elements. It probably has a primitive composition, similar to that of the carbonaceous chondrite meteorites.
A 1979 study of the Algol-like light curve produced by this asteroid concluded that it was possible to model the brightness variation by assuming a binary system with a circular orbit, a period of 13.146 hours, and an inclination of 15° to the line of sight from the Earth. Photometric observations of this asteroid at the Leura Observatory in Leura, Australia during 2006 gave a rotation period of 6.6666 ± 0.0002 hours and a brightness variation of 0.50 ± 0.02 in magnitude. This is in agreement with previous studies.