2101 Adonis
2101 Adonis was one of the first near-Earth asteroids to be found. It was found by Eugene Delporte in 1936 and named after Adonis, the beautiful youth with whom the goddess Venus fell in love. Adonis is thought to measure about 1 km in diameter.
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Eugene Delporte |
| Discovery date | February 12, 1936 |
| Designations | |
| 1936 CA | |
| Apollo, Mars crosser | |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Epoch October 22, 2004 (JD 2453300.5) | |
| Aphelion | 494.673 Gm (3.307 AU) |
| Perihelion | 65.906 Gm (0.441 AU) |
| 280.289 Gm (1.874 AU) | |
| Eccentricity | 0.765 |
| 936.742 d (2.56 a) | |
Average orbital speed | 18.10 km/s |
| 307.406° | |
| Inclination | 1.349° |
| 350.580° | |
| 42.438° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 0.5—1.2 km 1 |
| Mass | 0.13—1.8×1012 kg |
Mean density | 2.0? g/cm³ |
| 0.0001—0.0003 m/s² | |
| 0.0003—0.0006 km/s | |
| ? d | |
| Albedo | 0.20—0.04 1 |
| Temperature | 197—207 K |
Spectral type | ? |
| 18.7 | |
In the close approach that led to the first time it was found, not enough sightings could be made to find out it's orbit, and Adonis was lost until 1977 when it was found once again by Charles T. Kowal.
Adonis was the second Apollo asteroid to be found (after 1862 Apollo itself). It may be a dead comet, and may be the source of some meteor showers. [1]
It comes within 30 Gm of the Earth six times in the 21st century, the nearest being 5.3 Gm in 2036.
