3494 Purple Mountain is a small 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 not purple; its unusual name comes from the Purple Mountain Observatory

Purple Mountain Observatory

Purple Mountain Observatory , also known as Zijinshan Astronomical Observatory, is an astronomical observatory located on the Purple Mountain in Nanjing, China.The long time director of the observatory was Zhang Yuzhe Purple Mountain Observatory , also known as Zijinshan Astronomical Observatory,...

 in China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

, where it was rediscovered in 1980 (it had been seen but lost, several times before, since 1962). (See lost asteroids

Lost asteroids

Lost asteroids or lost planets are asteroids that observers lose track of after discovering. Many early lost asteroids were rediscovered in the 1980s and 1990s, but a number of asteroids and other types of small Solar System bodies continue to be lost...

)

Purple Mountain is of the Vesta family

Vesta family

The Vesta or Vestian family of asteroids is a large and prominent grouping of mostly V-type asteroids in the inner asteroid belt in the vicinity of 4 Vesta...

 of asteroids, and is a fragment chipped off the very large asteroid 4 Vesta

4 Vesta

Vesta, formally designated 4 Vesta, is one of the largest asteroids, with a mean diameter of about . It was discovered by Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers on March 29, 1807, and is named after the Roman virgin goddess of home and hearth, Vesta....

 by the impact that formed this family. A spectroscopic analysis showed it to have a composition very similar to the cumulate eucrite

Eucrite

Eucrites are achondritic stony meteorites, many of which originate from the surface of the asteroid 4 Vesta and as such are part of the HED meteorite group. They are the most common achondrite group with well over 100 distinct finds at present....

 meteorite

Meteorite

A meteorite is a natural object originating in outer space that survives impact with the Earth's surface. Meteorites can be big or small. Most meteorites derive from small astronomical objects called meteoroids, but they are also sometimes produced by impacts of asteroids...

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