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216 Kleopatra facts for kids

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216 Kleopatra
Discovery
Discovered by Johann Palisa
Discovery date April 10, 1880
Designations
A905 OA, A910 RA
Main belt
Orbital characteristics
Epoch 30 January, 2005 (JD 2453400.5)
Aphelion 523.049 Gm (3.496 AU)
Perihelion 312.544 Gm (2.089 AU)
417.796 Gm (2.793 AU)
Eccentricity 0.252
1704.704 d (4.67 a)
17.82 km/s
55.259°
Inclination 13.136°
215.672°
179.099°
Physical characteristics
Dimensions 217 × 94 × 81 km
Mass unknown
Mean density
3.5+
5.385 h
Albedo 0.116
Temperature unknown
Spectral type
M
7.3

216 Kleopatra is a Main belt asteroid found by Johann Palisa on April 10, 1880 in Pola. It is named after Cleopatra, the Queen of Egypt.

Asteroid-Kleopatra-radar
Dog bone shaped asteroid Kleopatra

Kleopatra is an unusual object. Its odd shape was revealed by adaptive optics on the ESO 3.6m telescope at La Silla. By bouncing radar signals off the asteroid, a team of astronomers at the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico were able to develop a more detailed computer model of its shape, which confirmed the dog-bone like shape. A favored explanation is that Kleopatra is a contact binary: two similarly-sized asteroids that have hit and stuck together instead of breaking apart.

Kleopatra is a fairly big asteroid, measuring 217 × 94 × 81 km. It is believed to be a loosely packed metallic object, based on its radar albedo.

  • The Asteroid Orbital Elements Database



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See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: (216) Kleopatra para niños

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