Alternative names 1957 LM Observation arc 125.12 yr (45699 d) Discovered 5 March 1891 | Discovery date 5 March 1891 Minor planet category Main belt Aphelion 3.3226 AU (497.05 Gm) Orbits Sun Asteroid group Asteroid belt | |
Similar 317 Roxane, 306 Unitas, 441 Bathilde, 302 Clarissa, 277 Elvira | ||
307 Nike is a sizeable asteroid of the main belt. It was discovered by Auguste Charlois on March 5, 1891 while working at the Nice Observatory. Charlois named it after the Greek goddess of victory, as well as the Greek name for the city where it was discovered. Measurement of the light curve of this asteroid in 2000 indicates a rotation period of 7.902 ± 0.005 hours.
On December 2, 1972, Pioneer 10 made one of its nearest passages of an asteroid when it passed 307 Nike at a distance of about 8.8 million kilometers (0.059 AU) during the spacecraft's pioneering trip through the asteroid belt.
References
307 Nike Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA