Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
Hilda family
(Redirected from Hilda asteroid)
The Hilda family of asteroids is constituted of asteroids with a semi-major axis between 3.7 AU and 4.2 AU, an eccentricity greater than 0.07, and an inclination less than 20°. They do not form a true asteroid family, in the sense that they do not descend from a common parent object. Rather, this is a dynamical family, made up of asteroids which are in a 2:3 orbital resonance with Jupiter. Hildas move in their orbits so that their aphelia put them opposite Jupiter, or 60 degrees ahead of or behind Jupiter at the L4 and L5 Lagrangian points. Over three successive orbits each Hilda asteroid passes through all of these three points in sequence.
The namesake is 153 Hilda, discovered by Johann Palisa in 1875.
Last updated: 10-12-2005 07:54:04
10-26-2009 08:16:03
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The contents of this article is licensed from www.wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License. Click here to see the transparent copy and copyright details