7th Largest Asteroid, 511 Davida

511 Davida is one of the largest asteroids in the asteroid belt, having a mean diameter of 289 km. It is the 7th largest asteroid currently known.

Discovery

Davida was discovered by R. S. Dugan in May 30, 1903.

Naming

Davida is named after David Peck Todd, an astronomy professor at Amherst College.

Stats

Diameter (mean): 289 km
Semi-major axis: 3.164 AU
Orbital Period: 5.63 years
Rotation period: 5.131 hrs
Date discovered: 1903.5.30
Class: C
Type: Main-belt Asteroid

Physical characteristics

Davida is a C-type asteroid, which means that it is dark in colouring with a carbonate composition.

Davida is one of the few main-belt asteroids whose shape has been determined by ground-based visual observation. From 2002 to 2007, astronomers at the Keck Observatory used the Keck II telescope, which is fitted with adaptive optics, to photograph Davida.

The asteroid is not a dwarf planet: there are at least two promontories and at least one flat facet with 15-km deviations from a best-fit ellipsoid. The facet is presumably a 150-km global-scale crater.