Discovered by A. Borrelly Minor planet category Main belt Aphelion 2.6525 AU (396.81 Gm) Discovered 5 February 1877 Spectral type S-type asteroid Discovery site Marseille Observatory | Discovery date 5 February 1877 Observation arc 133.62 yr (48806 d) Perihelion 2.1073 AU (315.25 Gm) Orbits Sun Discoverer Alphonse Borrelly Asteroid group Asteroid belt | |
Similar 193 Ambrosia, 188 Menippe, 161 Athor, 441 Bathilde, 178 Belisana | ||
172 Baucis is a large main belt asteroid that was discovered by French astronomer Alphonse Borrelly on February 5, 1877, and named after a fictional character in the Greek legend of Baucis and Philemon. The adjectival form of the name is Baucidian. It is classified as an S-type asteroid based upon its spectrum.
Photometric observations of this asteroid from the southern hemisphere during 2003 gave a light curve that indicated a slow synodic rotation period of 27.417 ± 0.013 hours and a brightness variation of 0.25 in magnitude.
Polarimetric study of this asteroid reveals anomalous properties that suggests the regolith consists of a mixture of low and high albedo material. This may have been caused by fragmentation of an asteroid substrate with the spectral properties of CO3/CV3 carbonaceous chondrites.