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August 2, 2021
The asteroid Lutetia (21Lutetia) was discovered on November 15, 1852 by Hermann Goldschmidt from the balcony of his apartment in Paris. It was the first asteroid discovered by an amateur astronomer. Since the asteroid was discovered in Paris, it is named after the ancient Latin name of this place.
Despite the fact that Lutetia belongs to the first hundred discovered asteroids, the main data about it became known only in 2010, when the Rosetta spacecraft, developed by the European Space Agency and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the United States, flew near it on distance of only 3168 km, taking many pictures and transferring some scientific data.
Asteroid Lutetia. Image of the ESA's spacecraft "Rosetta" from a distance of 3168 km, 2010.
Lutetium orbits the Sun at a distance of about 2.4 AU. in the inner part of the asteroid belt. Its orbit lies in the plane of the ecliptic and is moderately eccentric. The orbital period is 3.8 years. The mass of the asteroid was calculated - 1.7⋅1018 kg, which turned out to be much less than the initial estimates made from the Earth. Nevertheless, with the dimensions of the object only 121 × 101 × 75 km, the asteroid has a very high density - 3.4 g / cm³, which is almost 2 times higher than the density of many other asteroids in the Main Belt.
This suggests that the asteroid contains a significant amount of iron, but, according to most researchers, it is unlikely that it has a fully formed core. Its surface does not contain olivine. The data obtained in combination with the high density of the rocks indicate that the stony matter of the asteroid is probably composed of enstatite or carbonaceous chondrites.
The orbit of Lutetia and its position in the solar system on January 1, 2009 (NASA).
The asteroid is covered with numerous impact craters. On the surface, which was photographed, there are about 350 craters ranging in size from hundreds of meters to several kilometers. The interior of the asteroid is a monolith, not a pile of debris like many smaller asteroids. Most of the craters were formed about 3.6 billion years ago. According to scientists, Lutetia probably remained almost intact during this time and is a primitive underdeveloped mini-planet.
Source: Moscow Planetarium.
Related links:
ROSCOSMOS Press Release: https://www.roscosmos.ru/32045/
Moscow Planetarium: https://www.roscosmos.ru/tag/moskovskiy-planetariy/
Asteroid: https://www.roscosmos.ru/tag/asteroid/
Images (mentioned), Text, Credits: ROSCOSMOS/Moscow Planetarium/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.
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