Discovery | |
---|---|
Discovered by | John Russell Hind |
Discovery date | May 19, 1851 |
Designations | |
(14) Irene | |
Pronunciation | /aɪˈriːniː/[1] |
Named after | Irēnē |
A906 QC; A913 EA; 1952 TM | |
Main belt | |
Adjectives | Irenean /aɪrɪˈniːən/ (< Irenæan) |
Symbol | (historical) |
Orbital characteristics[2] | |
Epoch July 14, 2004 (JD 2453200.5) | |
Aphelion | 451.858 Gm (3.020 AU) |
Perihelion | 321.602 Gm (2.150 AU) |
386.730 Gm (2.585 AU) | |
Eccentricity | 0.168 |
1,518.176 d (4.16 yr) | |
326.489° | |
Inclination | 9.106° |
86.493° | |
96.473° | |
Physical characteristics | |
Dimensions | (167 × 153 × 139) ± 16 km[3] 152km (Dunham)[2] |
Mass | (6.94±1.63)×1018 kg[a][3] |
Mean density | 3.73±1.47 g/cm3[3] |
0.6275 d (15.06 h)[2][4] | |
0.159[2] | |
S[2] | |
8.85[5] to 12.30 | |
6.30[2] | |
0.17″ to 0.052" | |
Irene /aɪˈriːniː/ (minor planet designation: 14 Irene) is a large main-belt asteroid, discovered by the English astronomer John Russell Hind on May 19, 1851. It is orbiting the Sun at a distance of 2.585 AU with a period of 4.16 yr and an eccentricity of 0.168. The orbital plane is tilted at an angle of 9.1° to the plane of the ecliptic.[2]
14 Irene was named after Irēnē, a personification of peace in Greek mythology. She was one of the Horae, daughter of Zeus and Themis. The name was suggested by Sir John Herschel.[6] Hind wrote,
The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations in the Crystal Palace of Hyde Park, London, ran from May 1 until October 18, 1851.
Hind suggested that the symbol for the asteroid should be "A dove carrying an olive-branch, with a star on its head",[7] but it was hardly drawn before the use of graphical symbols to represent asteroids was dropped entirely.[8] It is in the pipeline for Unicode 17.0 as U+1CEC7 ().[9][10]
Observations from 2007 indicate that the rotation pole of 14 Irene lies close to the plane of the ecliptic, indicating it has an obliquity close to 90°.[11] The fairly flat Irenian lightcurves indicate somewhat spherical proportions.[citation needed] This is a stony S-type asteroid with a mean diameter of around 152 km.[3][2] It is spinning with a rotation period of 15 hours.[11]
There have been seven reported stellar occultation events by Irene. The best is a three chord event observed in 2013.[12]