Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
10 Hygiea
10 Hygiea (hye-jee'-a or hi-jee'-a) is the fourth largest Main belt asteroid with a diameter of 407 km. The dark-coloured surface makes the asteroid dimmer than the size would imply.
Hygiea is composed of primitive carbonaceous material similar to the chondrite meteorites. It is the main member of the Hygiea family .
It was discovered by A. de Gasparis on April 12, 1849 in Naples, Italy. It was his first of many asteroid discoveries.
It is named after Hygieia, the greek goddess of health, daughter of Asclepius (Aesculapius for the Romans). De Gasparis let his friend Ernesto Capocci name the asteroid to thank him for his encouragement.
The Hubble Space Telescope was able to resolve the spherical shape of the asteroid. So far there are 5 observed stellar occultations by 10 Hygiea.
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