182 Elsa

Orbital characteristics [ftp://ftp.lowell.edu/pub/elgb/astorb.html 1]
Orbit Orbit In physics, an orbit is the gravitationally curved path of an object around a point in space, for example the orbit of a planet around the center of a star system, such as the Solar System...  type	Main belt Asteroid belt The asteroid belt is the region of the Solar System located roughly between the orbits of the planets Mars and Jupiter. It is occupied by numerous irregularly shaped bodies called asteroids or minor planets...
Semimajor axis	2.417 AU Astronomical unit An astronomical unit is a unit of length equal to about or approximately the mean Earth–Sun distance....
Perihelion distance	1.968 AU Astronomical unit An astronomical unit is a unit of length equal to about or approximately the mean Earth–Sun distance....
Aphelion distance	2.866 AU Astronomical unit An astronomical unit is a unit of length equal to about or approximately the mean Earth–Sun distance....
Orbital period Orbital period The orbital period is the time taken for a given object to make one complete orbit about another object.When mentioned without further qualification in astronomy this refers to the sidereal period of an astronomical object, which is calculated with respect to the stars.There are several kinds of...	3.76 years
Inclination Inclination Inclination in general is the angle between a reference plane and another plane or axis of direction.-Orbits:The inclination is one of the six orbital parameters describing the shape and orientation of a celestial orbit...	2.00°
Eccentricity	0.186
Physical characteristics [ftp://ftp.lowell.edu/pub/elgb/astorb.html 1]
Diameter Diameter In geometry, a diameter of a circle is any straight line segment that passes through the center of the circle and whose endpoints are on the circle. The diameters are the longest chords of the circle...	43.7 km
Rotation period Rotation period The rotation period of an astronomical object is the time it takes to complete one revolution around its axis of rotation relative to the background stars...	80 hours
Spectral class 5	S S-type asteroid S-type asteroids are of a stony composition, hence the name. Approximately 17% of asteroids are of this type, making it the second most common after the C-type.-Characteristics:...
Abs. magnitude Absolute magnitude Absolute magnitude is the measure of a celestial object's intrinsic brightness. it is also the apparent magnitude a star would have if it were 32.6 light years away from Earth...	9.12
Albedo Albedo Albedo , or reflection coefficient, is the diffuse reflectivity or reflecting power of a surface. It is defined as the ratio of reflected radiation from the surface to incident radiation upon it...  4	0.208
History 2
Discoverer	J. Palisa Johann Palisa Johann Palisa was an Austrian astronomer, born in Opava in Austrian Silesia .He was a prolific discoverer of asteroids, discovering 122 in all, from 136 Austria in 1874 to 1073 Gellivara in 1923... , 1878

182 Elsa is a Main belt

Asteroid belt

The asteroid belt is the region of the Solar System located roughly between the orbits of the planets Mars and Jupiter. It is occupied by numerous irregularly shaped bodies called asteroids or minor planets...

 asteroid

Asteroid

Asteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...

. It is an S-type asteroid

S-type asteroid

S-type asteroids are of a stony composition, hence the name. Approximately 17% of asteroids are of this type, making it the second most common after the C-type.-Characteristics:...

.

It was discovered by Johann Palisa

Johann Palisa

Johann Palisa was an Austrian astronomer, born in Opava in Austrian Silesia .He was a prolific discoverer of asteroids, discovering 122 in all, from 136 Austria in 1874 to 1073 Gellivara in 1923...

 on February 7, 1878. The origin of the name is uncertain; it may be named after the character in the legend of Lohengrin

Lohengrin

Lohengrin is a character in German Arthurian literature. The son of Parzival , he is a knight of the Holy Grail sent in a boat pulled by swans to rescue a maiden who can never ask his identity. His story, which first appears in Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival, is a version of the Knight of the...

 perpetuated by Richard Wagner

Richard Wagner

Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...

's opera of the same name

Lohengrin (opera)

Lohengrin is a romantic opera in three acts composed and written by Richard Wagner, first performed in 1850. The story of the eponymous character is taken from medieval German romance, notably the Parzival of Wolfram von Eschenbach and its sequel, Lohengrin, written by a different author, itself...

.

It rotates very slowly; its rotation period

Rotation period

The rotation period of an astronomical object is the time it takes to complete one revolution around its axis of rotation relative to the background stars...

 (or "day") is about 3.3 Earth days. A possible companion

Natural satellite

A natural satellite or moon is a celestial body that orbits a planet or smaller body, which is called its primary. The two terms are used synonymously for non-artificial satellites of planets, of dwarf planets, and of minor planets....

 has been proposed to explain the slow rotation.

Elsa has very amplified lightcurve indicating an elongated or irregular body. It was one of five minor planets included in the 1993 study, Transition Comets -- UV Search for OH Emissions in Asteroids

Transition Comets -- UV Search for OH Emissions in Asteroids

Hubble search for transition comets was a study involving amateur astronomers and the use of the Hubble Space Telescope...

, which was research involving amateur astronomers who were permitted to make use of the Hubble Space Telescope.