Discovered by C. H. F. Peters, 1879 Minor planet category Main belt Aphelion 3.2386 AU (484.49 Gm) Discovered 21 March 1879 Asteroid group Asteroid belt | Discovery date 21 March 1879 Observation arc 136.76 yr (49950 d) Perihelion 1.9930 AU (298.15 Gm) Orbits Sun Discovery site Litchfield Observatory | |
Discoverer Christian Heinrich Friedrich Peters Christian Heinrich Friedrich Peters discoveries 196 Philomela, 165 Loreley, 188 Menippe | ||
194 Prokne is a main-belt asteroid that was discovered by German-American astronomer C. H. F. Peters on March 21, 1879, in Clinton, New York, and named after Procne, the sister of Philomela in Greek mythology. Stellar occultations by Prokne have been observed twice, in 1984 from Italy and again in 1999 from Iowa (United States).
Observations from the W. M. Keck Observatory show the asteroid to be around 151 km across, with a size ratio of 7000112999999999999♠1.13±0.06 between the major and minor axes. For comparison, observations by the IRAS observatory gave a diameter of 164 km. The spectrum matches a classification of a C-type asteroid, indicating it has a primitive carbonaceous composition. Judging from radar data, the near surface solid density of the asteroid is 3.6+1.1
−0.9 g cm−3.
Based upon a light curve that was generated from photometric observations of this asteroid at Pulkovo Observatory, it has a rotation period of 7001156790000000000♠15.679±0.001 hours and varies in brightness by 6999160000000000000♠0.16±0.02 in magnitude.