Discovered by Auguste Charlois Minor planet category Main belt (Koronis) Discovered 3 May 1888 Discoverer Auguste Charlois Discovery site Nice Observatory | Discovery date 3 May 1888 Observation arc 116.65 yr (42607 d) Orbits Sun Asteroid family Koronis family Asteroid group Asteroid belt | |
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Aphelion 3.14812 AU (470.952 Gm) Perihelion 2.62032 AU (391.994 Gm) Similar 311 Claudia, 167 Urda, 276 Adelheid, 441 Bathilde, 360 Carlova | ||
277 Elvira is a typical main belt asteroid and is a member of the Koronis asteroid family. It was discovered by Auguste Charlois on May 3, 1888 in Nice. (277) Elvira is possibly named for a character in Alphonse de Lamartine’s Méditations poétiques (1820) and Harmonies poétiques et religieuses (1830).
A group of astronomers, including Lucy D’Escoffier Crespo da Silva and Richard P. Binzel, used observations made between 1998 through 2000 to determine the spin-vector alignment of the Koronis family of asteroids, including 277 Elvira. The collaborative work resulted in the creation of 61 new individual rotation lightcurves to augment previous published observations.
Measurements of the thermal inertia of 277 Elvira give a value of around 190 m−2 K−1 s−1/2, compared to 50 for lunar regolith and 400 for coarse sand in an atmosphere.