Petit-Prince (moon)
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| 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 | 1 November 1998 |
| Designations | |
| MPC designation | S/1998 (45) 1 |
| Pronunciation | French: [pətipʁɛ̃s] |
|
Named after
|
The Little Prince |
| Main belt | |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| 1184 ± 12 km | |
| Eccentricity | 0.0100 ± 0.0002 |
| 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) |
| Mass | ~ 1.2×1015 kg (estimate) |
|
Equatorial escape velocity
|
~ 5 m/s (estimate) |
| 13.6 | |
(45) Eugenia I Petit-Prince is the larger, outer moon of 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 the first asteroid moon to be discovered with a ground-based telescope. Previously, the only known moon of an asteroid was Dactyl, discovered by the Galileo space probe, around 243 Ida.
Petit-Prince is 13 km in diameter, compared to 45 Eugenia's 214 km. It takes five days to complete an orbit around Eugenia.
The discoverers chose the name in honour of Empress Eugénie's son, the Prince Imperial. However, they also intended an allusion to the children's book The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, which is about a prince who lives on an asteroid.
In their submission of the name to the IAU, the discovers justified the double meaning by arguing for similarities between the Prince Imperial and the Little Prince:
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