12 Victoria is a large main-belt asteroid, orbiting the Sun with a period of 3.56 years and an eccentricity of 0.221. It is a stony (S-type) asteroid, about 112–124 km across with an albedo of 0.18 and a rotation period of 8.66 hours. Victoria has been observed to occult a star three times since its discovery. Radar and speckle interferometry observations show that the shape of Victoria is elongated, and it is suspected to be a binary asteroid, with a moon of irregular shape.[6]

12 Victoria
Discovery
Discovered byJohn Russell Hind
Discovery date13 September 1850
Designations
(12) Victoria
Pronunciation/vɪkˈtɔːriə/[1]
Named after
Victoria (Latin: Uictōria)
Main belt
AdjectivesVictorian
Symbol (historical)
Orbital characteristics[2]
Epoch 13 September 2023
(JD 2453300.5)
Uncertainty parameter 0
Observation arc172.65 yr
Aphelion2.85 AU (426 million km)
Perihelion1.819 AU (272.1 million km)
2.33 AU (349 million km)
Eccentricity0.22036
3.56 yr (1302.2 d)
19.50 km/s
215.8°
0° 16m 35.429s / day
Inclination8.374°
235.36°
15 February 2025
69.60°
Earth MOID0.82 AU (123 million km)
Jupiter MOID2.42 AU (362 million km)
TJupiter3.522
Physical characteristics
116±2 km[3]
115.087 ± 1.199 km[2]
124.09 ± 8.31 km[4]
Flattening0.31[a]
Mass(2.7±1.3)×1018 kg[3]
(2.45±0.46)×1018 kg[4]
Mean density
3.4±1.7 g/cm3[3]
2.45±0.67 g/cm3[4]
Equatorial surface gravity
0.0315 m/s²
Equatorial escape velocity
0.0596 km/s
8.6599 h (0.36083 d)[2]
0.167 (calculated)[3]
0.163 ± 0.027[2]
Temperature~178 K
S-type asteroid[2]
8.68[5] to 12.82
7.30[2]
0.188" to 0.04"

This minor planet was discovered by English astronomer J. R. Hind on September 13, 1850. Victoria is officially named after the Roman goddess of victory, but the name also honours Queen Victoria. The goddess Victoria (Nike for the Greeks) was the daughter of Styx by the Titan Pallas. The coincidence with the name of the then-reigning queen caused quite a controversy at the time, and B. A. Gould, editor of the prestigious Astronomical Journal, adopted the alternate name Clio (now used by 84 Klio), proposed by the discoverer. However, W. C. Bond, of the Harvard College Observatory, then the highest authority on astronomy in America, held that the mythological condition was fulfilled and the name therefore acceptable, and his opinion eventually prevailed.[7]

The historical symbol for Victoria was a star with a branch of laurel. It is in the pipeline for Unicode 17.0 as U+1CEC5 𜻅 ().[8][9]

12 Victoria Earth approach on 26 June 2028[10]
Date and time of
closest approach
Earth distance
(AU)
Sun distance
(AU)
Velocity
relative to Earth
(km/s)
Velocity
relative to Sun
(km/s)
Uncertainty
region
(3-sigma)
Solar
elongation
26 June 2028 ≈01:57 0.877 AU (131.2 million km; 81.5 million mi; 341 LD) 1.88 AU (281 million km; 175 million mi) 6.4 23.7 ± 7 km 166.9°
Model of 12 Victoria made by light-curve inversion

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Flattening derived from the maximum aspect ratio (c/a):  , where (c/a) = 0.69±0.03.[3]

References

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  1. ^ Noah Webster (1884) A Practical Dictionary of the English Language
  2. ^ a b c d e f "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 12 Victoria" (2023-05-15 last obs). Retrieved 18 September 2023.
  3. ^ a b c d e P. Vernazza et al. (2021) VLT/SPHERE imaging survey of the largest main-belt asteroids: Final results and synthesis. Astronomy & Astrophysics 54, A56
  4. ^ a b c Carry, B. (December 2012). "Density of asteroids". Planetary and Space Science. 73 (1): 98–118. arXiv:1203.4336. Bibcode:2012P&SS...73...98C. doi:10.1016/j.pss.2012.03.009. S2CID 119226456. See Table 1.
  5. ^ "AstDys (12) Victoria Ephemerides". Department of Mathematics, University of Pisa, Italy. Retrieved 26 June 2010.
  6. ^ Other reports of asteroid/TNO companions
  7. ^ Schmadel, Lutz D. (2003). Dictionary of minor planet names. Vol. 1 (5th ed.). Berlin Heidelberg New York: Springer-Verlag. p. 16. doi:10.1007/978-3-540-29925-7_13. ISBN 3-540-00238-3.
  8. ^ Bala, Gavin Jared; Miller, Kirk (18 September 2023). "Unicode request for historical asteroid symbols" (PDF). unicode.org. Unicode. Retrieved 26 September 2023.
  9. ^ Unicode. "Proposed New Characters: The Pipeline". unicode.org. The Unicode Consortium. Retrieved 6 November 2023.
  10. ^ "Horizons Batch for 12 Victoria on 2028-Jun-26" (Closest Earth approach occurs when deldot flips from negative to positive). JPL Horizons. Retrieved 18 September 2023.
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