72 Feronia

72 Feronia is a quite large and dark main belt asteroid. It was the first asteroid discovery by C. H. F. Peters, on May 29, 1861,^[7] from Hamilton College, New York State. It was initially thought that Peters had merely seen the already known asteroid 66 Maja, but T.H. Safford showed that it was a new body. Safford named it after Feronia, a Roman fertility goddess.^[8]

72 Feronia

A three-dimensional model of 72 Feronia based on its light curve.
Discovery
Discovered by	Christian Heinrich Friedrich Peters
Discovery date	May 29, 1861
Designations
MPC designation	(72) Feronia
Pronunciation	/fɛˈroʊniə/[1]
Named after	Feronia
Minor planet category	Main belt
Adjectives	Feronian
Orbital characteristics
Epoch December 31, 2006 (JD 2454100.5)
Aphelion	2.539 AU (379.8 Gm)
Perihelion	1.993 AU (298.1 Gm)
Semi-major axis	2.266 AU (339.0 Gm)
Eccentricity	0.121
Orbital period (sidereal)	1,246.123 days (3.41 a)
Mean anomaly	146.950°
Inclination	5.417°
Longitude of ascending node	208.137°
Argument of perihelion	102.608°
Physical characteristics
Dimensions	83.95±4.02 km[2]
Mass	(9.45 ± 3.76/1.75)×1017 kg[3]
Mean density	3.045 ± 1.212/0.565 g/cm3[3]
Synodic rotation period	8.09068 h[4]
Pole ecliptic latitude	287 or 102[4]
Pole ecliptic longitude	−39 or −55[4]
Geometric albedo	0.063[5]
Spectral type	TDG[6]
Absolute magnitude (H)	8.94

This asteroid is orbiting the Sun with a period of 3.41 years, having a semimajor axis of 2.266 AU and an eccentricity of 0.121. The orbital plane is inclined by an angle of 5.4° to the plane of the ecliptic. This is a spectral type TDG asteroid with a cross-section size of 84 km. The asteroid has an estimated rotation period of 8.09 h. Hanuš et al. (2013) gives two possible solutions for the pole in ecliptic coordinates: (λ₁, β₁) = (287°, −39°) or (λ₁, β₁) = (102°, −55°).