12 Victoria (pronounced /vɪkˈtɔəriə/, Latin: Uictōria) is a large Main belt asteroid.

It was discovered by J. R. Hind on September 13, 1850.

Victoria is officially named after the Roman goddess of victory, but the name also honours Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. 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.

Radar and speckle interferometry observations show that the shape of Victoria is elongated, and it is suspected to be a binary asteroid.[4]

Victoria has only ever been observed to occult a star thrice since its discovery.

References

1. ^ a b c d e f "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 12 Victoria". 2008-11-06 last obs. http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=12. Retrieved 2008-11-30.
2. ^ Using a spherical radius of 56.4 km; volume of a sphere * an assumed density of 2 g/cm³ yields a mass (m=d*v) of 1.502 × 1018 kg
3. ^ "AstDys (12) Victoria Ephemerides". Department of Mathematics, University of Pisa, Italy. Retrieved 2010-06-26.
4. ^ Other reports of asteroid/TNO companions

External links

* Orbital simulation from JPL (Java) / Ephemeris