238 Hypatia is a large main-beltasteroid that was discovered by Russian astronomer Viktor Knorre on July 1, 1884, in Berlin. It was the third of his four asteroid discoveries. The name was given in honour of philosopherHypatia of Alexandria. Based upon the spectrum, it is classified as a C-type asteroid[4] and is probably composed of primitive carbonaceous material. Like many asteroids of this type, its surface is very dark in colour.
Orbit of Hypatia (blue ring)
Photometric observations of this asteroid at the European Southern Observatory in 1981 gave a light curve with a period of 8.9 ± 0.1 hours and a brightness variation of 0.12 in magnitude.[5]Stellar occultation events were observed for this asteroid during 2001 and 2005. The resulting chords provided cross-section diameter estimates of 146.5 and 145.3 km, respectively.[6]
^Piironen, J.; et al. (March 1998), "Physical studies of asteroids. XXXII. Rotation periods and UBVRI-colours for selected asteroids", Astronomy and Astrophysics Supplement, 128 (3): 525–540, Bibcode:1998A&AS..128..525P, doi:10.1051/aas:1998393.
^Schober, H. J. (January 1983), "Rotation periods and lightcurves of the asteroids 136 Austria and 238 Hypatia", Astronomy and Astrophysics, 117 (2): 362–364, Bibcode:1983A&A...117..362S.
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