Discovered by A. Kopff MPC designation 666 Desdemona Minor planet category main-belt · (middle) Aphelion 3.21 m Discoverer August Kopff | Discovery date 23 July 1908 Alternative names 1908 DM Discovered 23 July 1908 Orbits Sun Asteroid group Asteroid belt | |
Named after Desdemona
(character in Othello) Discovery site Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory Similar 665 Sabine, 218 Bianca, 679 Pax, 528 Rezia, 161 Athor | ||
Teaser 1 2016 666 desdemona
666 Desdemona, provisional designation 1908 DM, is a stony asteroid from the middle region of the asteroid belt, approximately 29 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 23 July 1908, by German astronomer August Kopff at Heidelberg Observatory in southern Germany.
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The stony S-type asteroid orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.0–3.2 AU once every 4 years and 2 months (1,525 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.24 and an inclination of 8° with respect to the ecliptic. As no precoveries were taken, the asteroid's observation arc begins with its discovery in 1908.
In 2013, a rotational light-curve for this asteroid was obtained from photometric observations made by astronomer Anna Marciniak at Poznań Observatory, Poland. It gave a rotation period of 7001146070000000000♠14.607±0.004 hours with a brightness variation of 0.22 in magnitude (U=2+), superseding a period from in 2000, obtained at the Californian Santana Observatory (646), which gave a slightly longer period of 7001154500000000000♠15.45±0.01 hours and an amplitude of 0.11 (U=2). Between 2004 and 2006, three more light-curves were constructed from photometric observations, but they were all fragmentary and based on results with less than full coverage (U=2-/1+/2-).
According to the surveys carried out by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite IRAS, the Japanese Akari satellite, and NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, the asteroid's surface has an albedo between 0.095 and 0.106. While the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link agrees with the space-based IRAS and Akari surveys on a diameter of approximately 27 kilometers, the results from WISE and NEOWISE found a larger diameter of 31.5 to 32.7 kilometers, respectively.
The minor planet was named after the wife of Othello in the play The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice written in 1604 by William Shakespeare, after whom the minor planet 2985 Shakespeare is named. It is presumed that the naming of "Desdemona" could have been inspired by the two letters of its provisional designation (1908 DM). One of the satellites of Uranus (Uranus X), discovered by the Voyager 2 in 1986, is also named Desdemona (H 68).