12 Victoria
12 Victoria is a large Main belt asteroid. It is probably composed of silicate rock and nickel-iron.
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. [1]
Victoria has been observed to occult stars 3 times.
Aspects
| Stationary, retrograde |
Opposition | Distance to Earth (AU) |
Maximum brightness (mag) |
Stationary, prograde |
Conjunction to Sun |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 October 2004 | 18 December 2004 | 1.70042 | 10.8 | 6 February 2005 | 1 August 2005 |
| 20 January 2006 | 13 March 2006 | 1.62172 | 10.7 | 30 April 2006 | 26 November 2006 |
| 23 August 2007 | 7 October 2007 | 1.05177 | 9.3 | 9 November 2007 | 10 June 2008 |
| 28 November 2008 | 23 January 2009 | 1.87658 | 11.2 | 15 March 2009 | 9 September 2009 |
| 31 March 2010 | 10 May 2010 | 1.08759 | 9.2 | 21 June 2010 | 17 March 2011 |
| 15 October 2011 | 5 December 2011 | 1.57596 | 10.5 | 22 January 2012 | 19 July 2012 |
| 5 January 2013 | 27 February 2013 | 1.73794 | 11.0 | 17 April 2013 | 1 November 2013 |
| 22 July 2014 | 3 September 2014 | 0.89385 | 8.9 | 3 October 2014 | 26 May 2015 |
| 18 November 2015 | 12 January 2016 | 1.85271 | 11.2 | 4 March 2016 | 26 August 2016 |
| 3 March 2017 | 16 April 2017 | 1.28461 | 9.9 | 30 May 2017 | 7 February 2018 |
| 2 October 2018 | 19 November 2018 | 1.42170 | 10.0 | 4 January 2019 | 8 July 2019 |
| 23 December 2019 | 16 February 2020 | 1.81915 | 11.1 | 6 April 2020 | 11 October 2020 |
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|---|---|---|
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| List of asteroids | ||
| The minor planets |
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| Vulcanoids | Near-Earth asteroids | Main belt | Jupiter Trojans | Centaurs | Damocloids | Comets | Trans-Neptunians (Kuiper belt · Scattered disc · Oort cloud) |
| For other objects and regions, see: asteroid groups and families, binary asteroids, asteroid moons and the Solar system For a complete listing, see: List of asteroids. See also Pronunciation of asteroid names and Meanings of asteroid names. |