Petit-Prince (moon)

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**Petit-Prince**
Discovery^[1] and designation
Discovered by	W. J. Merline, L. M. Close, C. Dumas, C. R. Chapman, F. Roddier, F. Menard, D. C. Slater, G. Duvert, J. C. Shelton, T. Morgan
Discovery date	November 1, 1998
Designations
MPC designation	S/1998 (45) 1
Minor planet category	Main belt
Orbital characteristics^[3]
Semi-major axis	1184 ± 12 km
Eccentricity	0.0100 ± 0.0002
Orbital period	4.766 ± 0.001 d
Average orbital speed	18.1 m/s
Inclination	8.0 ± 0.1° (with respect to Eugenia equator)
Satellite of	45 Eugenia
Physical characteristics
Dimensions	~ 13 km (estimate) ^[4]
Mass	~ 1.2×10¹⁵ kg (estimate) ^[5]
Equatorial escape velocity	~ 5 m/s (estimate)
Absolute magnitude	13.6 ^[6]

Petit-Prince orbiting Eugenia

(45) Eugenia I Petit-Prince is an asteroid moon that orbits the larger asteroid 45 Eugenia. It was discovered in 1998 by astronomers at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii. Initially, it received the provisional designation S/1998 (45) 1.

Petit-Prince was named in 2003 after Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's character The Little Prince, who lives on an asteroid called B612 and was in turn based on the Prince Imperial, son of Empress Eugenia.

Petit-Prince is 13 km in diameter, compared to 45 Eugenia's 214 km. It takes five days to complete an orbit around Eugenia.

Petit-Prince was the first asteroidal moon to be discovered by a ground-based telescope. Previously, the only known moon of an asteroid was Dactyl, discovered by the Galileo space probe around 243 Ida.

References

^ IAUC 7129, announcing the discovery
^ [1]
^ synthesis of several observations, F. Marchis.
^ Assuming the same albedo as Eugenia, then using the difference in absolute magnitude
^ Assuming same density and albedo as Eugenia
^ W.J. Merline at al. (1999). "Discovery of a moon orbiting the asteroid 45 Eugenia". Nature 401: 565.

External links

Data sheet compiled by W. Robert Johnston
IAUC 7503, announcing Petit-Prince's naming
orbit details compiled by F. Marchis, includes diagrams

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Vulcanoids · Near-Earth asteroids · Main belt · Jupiter Trojans · Centaurs · Damocloids · Neptune Trojans · Comets Trans-Neptunians (Kuiper belt · Scattered disc objects · Oort cloud)
For other objects and regions, see Asteroid groups and families, Binary asteroids, Asteroid moons, meteoroids and the Solar System. For a complete listing, see List of minor planets. See also Pronunciation of asteroid names and Meanings of asteroid names.