Discovery site Paris Observatory MPC designation 70 Minor planet category main belt Orbital period 4.2 years Orbits Sun Discoverer Hermann Goldschmidt | Discovery date 5 May 1861 Named after Panopea Orbital period 4.2 years Discovered 5 May 1861 Spectral type C-type asteroid | |
Discovered by Hermann Mayer Salomon Goldschmidt Similar Hermann Goldschmidt discoveries, Other celestial objects | ||
70 Panopaea (/ˈpænəˈpiːə/ PAN-ə-PEE-ə) is a large main belt asteroid. Its orbit is close to those of the Eunomia asteroid family; however, Panopaea is a dark, primitive carbonaceous C-type asteroid in contrast to the S-type asteroids of the Eunomian asteroids.
Panopaea was discovered by Hermann Goldschmidt on 5 May 1861. It was his fourteenth and last asteroid discovery. It is named after Panopea, a nymph in Greek mythology; the name was chosen by Robert Main, President of the Royal Astronomical Society.
The orbit of 70 Panopaea places it in a mean motion resonance with the planets Jupiter and Saturn. The computed Lyapunov time for this asteroid is 24,000 years, indicating that it occupies a chaotic orbit that will change randomly over time because of gravitational perturbations of the planets.
The asteroid frequently makes close approaches with 16 Psyche, such as on June 12, 2040 when it will make a close approach of 0.00602 AU (2.34 Lunar distances, or approx. 770,000 km, 478,455 mi) to the asteroid, and on June 2, 2095 when it will come only 0.003372 AU (1.31 LD) to the asteroid.