Discovered by C. H. F. Peters, 1878 Minor planet category Main belt Aphelion 3.0924 AU (462.62 Gm) Discovered 1 March 1878 Spectral type C-type asteroid Asteroid group Asteroid belt | Discovery date 1 March 1878 Observation arc 131.77 yr (48128 d) Perihelion 2.3843 AU (356.69 Gm) Orbits Sun Discovery site Litchfield Observatory | |
Discoverer Christian Heinrich Friedrich Peters Similar 196 Philomela, 188 Menippe, 165 Loreley, 167 Urda, 145 Adeona | ||
185 Eunike is a dark and very large main-belt asteroid, with an approximate diameter of 157 kilometres. It has a primitive carbonaceous composition.
It was discovered by C. H. F. Peters on March 1, 1878, in Clinton, New York and named after Eunike, a Nereid in Greek mythology whose name means 'happy victory'. The name was chosen to celebrate the Treaty of San Stefano (1878).
Based upon photometric observations made between 2010 and 2014, this asteroid has a rotation period of 21.812 ± 0.001 hours and a brightness variation of 0.08 ± 0.01 in magnitude. At opposition, the absolute magnitude was measured at 7.45 ± 0.01. It displays a hemispheric albedo dichotomy similar to that on 4 Vesta.
There have been three observed occultations of stars by Eunike.