170 Maria

170 Maria is a Main belt asteroid that was discovered by French astronomer Henri Joseph Perrotin on January 10, 1877.^[3] Its orbit was computed by Antonio Abetti, and the asteroid was named after his sister, Maria. This is the namesake of the Maria asteroid family; one of the first asteroid families to be identified by Japanese astronomer Kiyotsugu Hirayama in 1918.^[4] This family may be the parent body of the large near-Earth objects 433 Eros and 1036 Ganymed.^[5]

170 Maria

Asteroid Maria passing near a cluster of galaxies as seen by a four inch telescope over a period of nearly two hours.
Discovery
Discovered by	J. Perrotin
Discovery date	10 January 1877
Designations
MPC designation	(170) Maria
Pronunciation	/məˈriːə/ mə-REE-ə
Alternative designations	A877 AA; 1958 AC
Minor planet category	Main belt (Maria)
Orbital characteristics[1]
Epoch 31 July 2016 (JD 2457600.5)
Uncertainty parameter 0
Observation arc	116.69 yr (42622 d)
Aphelion	2.7161 AU (406.32 Gm)
Perihelion	2.3923 AU (357.88 Gm)
Semi-major axis	2.5542 AU (382.10 Gm)
Eccentricity	0.063388
Orbital period (sidereal)	4.08 yr (1491.0 d)
Mean anomaly	88.062°
Mean motion	0° 14m 29.184s / day
Inclination	14.377°
Longitude of ascending node	301.34°
Argument of perihelion	159.21°
Earth MOID	1.4114 AU (211.14 Gm)
Jupiter MOID	2.39948 AU (358.957 Gm)
TJupiter	3.392
Physical characteristics
Dimensions	44.30±1.0 km
Synodic rotation period	13.120 h (0.5467 d)
Geometric albedo	0.1579±0.007
Spectral type	S[2]
Absolute magnitude (H)	9.39

In the Tholen classification system, this is categorized as a stony S-type asteroid based on its spectrum.^[2] Observations performed at the Palmer Divide Observatory in Colorado Springs, Colorado during 2007 produced a light curve with a period of 13.120 ± 0.002 hours and a brightness range of 0.21 ± 0.02 in magnitude. Previous measurements from 2000 gave 13.14 and 5.510 hour estimates for the period.^[6]

An occultation of a star by Maria was observed from Manitoba, Canada, on June 10, 1997.