Discovered by James Edward Keeler Discovery date 6 December 1899 Named after Mount Hamilton | Discovery site Mount Hamilton MPC designation 452 Alternative names 1899 FD | |
452 Hamiltonia is an asteroid. It was discovered by James Edward Keeler on December 6, 1899, but was then lost until 1987. Its provisional name was 1899 FD. The asteroid is named for Mount Hamilton, the site of Lick Observatory where Keeler was working when he discovered the asteroid. It was the last asteroid discovery of the 19th century.
L. K. Kristensen at Aarhus University rediscovered 452 Hamiltonia along with 1537 Transylvania along with numerous other small objects in 1981. These rediscoveries left only nine numbered minor planets unobserved since their discoveries: 330 Adalberta (which never existed in the first place), (473) Nolli, (719) Albert, (724) Hapag, (843) Nicolaia, (878) Mildred, (1009) Sirene, (1026) Ingrid, and (1179) Mally. However, by the mid-1980s the only remaining lost asteroids of this group were (719) Albert (rediscovered in 2000), (724) Hapag (rediscovered in 1988), and (878) Mildred (rediscovered in 1991).