372 Palma is a large asteroid in the main asteroid belt. It is the 31th largest asteroid currently known.
Discovery
Palma was discovered by Auguste Honoré Charlois on August 19, 1893 from Nice.
Naming
Palma the asteroid is named for the capital city of Majorca, an island located in the Mediterranean Sea, one of the Balearic Islands (Spain), and south of France.
The capital of Majorca, Palma, was founded as a Roman camp called Palmaria upon the remains of a Talaiotic settlement. The turbulent history of the city saw it subject to several Vandal sackings during the fall of the Roman Empire. It was later reconquered by the Byzantines, colonised by the Moors (who called it Medina Mayurqa), and finally established by James I of Aragon. In 1983, Palma became the capital of the autonomous region of the Balearic Islands.
Palma the asteroid is one of seven of Charlois's discoveries that was expressly named by the Astromomisches Rechen-Institut (Astronomical Calculation Institute).
Stats
Diameter (mean): 189 km
Aphelion: 3.971 AU
Perihelion: 2.327 AU
Semi-major axis: 3.149 AU
Orbital Period: 5.59 years
Rotation period: 8.57 hrs
Date discovered: 1893.8.19
Class: B
Type: Main-belt Asteroid
(data from JPL Small-Body Database)
Star Occultation
On the morning of January 26, 2007 the occultation of the star 32 Lyncis by 372 Palma was observed.
The observations can be fit to an ellipse with dimensions 207 kilometers by 184 kilometers, to an accuracy of +/-2 km.
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