88 Thisbe is one of the largest main-belt asteroids and the 14th largest asteroids currently known.
Discovery
Thisbe was discovered by Christian Heinrich Friedrich Peters on June 15, 1866, in Clinton, Oneida County, New York.
Naming
Thisbe the asteroid was named after Thisbe, heroine of a Roman fable.
Pyramus and Thisbe
The tale is told by Ovid in his Metamorphoses.
Pyramus and Thisbe are two characters of Roman mythology, whose love story of ill-fated lovers is also a sentimental romance.
In the Ovidian version, Pyramus and Thisbe is the story of two lovers in the city of Babylon who occupy connected houses/walls, forbidden by their parents to be wed, because of their parents' rivalry.
Through a crack in one of the walls, they whisper their love for each other. They arrange to meet near at Ninus' tomb under a mulberry tree and state their feelings for each other.
Thisbe arrives first, but upon seeing a lioness with a mouth bloody from a recent kill, she flees, leaving behind her veil. The lioness drinks from a nearby fountain, then by chance mutilates the veil Thisbe had left behind.
When Pyramus arrives, he is horrified at the sight of Thisbe's veil, assuming that a fierce beast had killed her. Pyramus kills himself, falling on his sword in proper Roman fashion, and in turn splashing blood on the white mulberry leaves. Pyramus' blood stains the white mulberry fruits, turning them dark.
Thisbe returns, eager to tell Pyramus what had happened to her, but she finds Pyramus' dead body under the shade of the mulberry tree. Thisbe, after a brief period of mourning, stabs herself with the same sword.
In the end, the gods listen to Thisbe's lament, and forever change the colour of the mulberry fruits into the stained colour to honour the forbidden love.
Stats
Diameter (mean): 232 km
Semi-major axis: 2.767 AU
Orbital Period: 4.60 years
Rotation period: 6.042 hrs
Date discovered: 1866.6.15
Class: B
Type: Main-belt Asteroid
(data from JPL Small-Body Database)
Star Occultation
An occultation of a star (SAO 187124) by Thisbe was observed on October 7, 1981. Results from the occultation indicate a larger than expected diameter of 232 km.
No comments:
Post a Comment