498 Tokio
Encyclopedia
498 Tokio is a minor planet
orbiting the Sun
.
Tokio was discovered by Shin Hirayama
in Tokyo
on March 6, 1900. However, he was not able to determine its orbit. After it was rediscovered by Auguste Charlois
on December 2, 1902, Charlois gave Hirayama the honor of naming it. Hirayama chose to name it Tokio after the city by the same name (Tokio is an older romanization).
The size of Tokio is 85 km x 60 km (determined by occultation
in Japan
on February 18, 2004).
Minor planet
An asteroid group or minor-planet group is a population of minor planets that have a share broadly similar orbits. Members are generally unrelated to each other, unlike in an asteroid family, which often results from the break-up of a single asteroid...
orbiting the Sun
Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...
.
Tokio was discovered by Shin Hirayama
Shin Hirayama
was the first Japanese astronomer to discover an asteroid. In 1900 he discovered 498 Tokio and 727 Nipponia.The crater Hirayama on the Moon is jointly named after him and Kiyotsugu Hirayama.-References:* at www12.plala.or.jp...
in Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
on March 6, 1900. However, he was not able to determine its orbit. After it was rediscovered by Auguste Charlois
Auguste Charlois
Auguste Honoré Charlois was a French astronomer who discovered 99 asteroids while working in Nice.His first discovery was the asteroid 267 Tirza in 1887...
on December 2, 1902, Charlois gave Hirayama the honor of naming it. Hirayama chose to name it Tokio after the city by the same name (Tokio is an older romanization).
The size of Tokio is 85 km x 60 km (determined by occultation
Occultation
An occultation is an event that occurs when one object is hidden by another object that passes between it and the observer. The word is used in astronomy . It can also refer to any situation wherein an object in the foreground blocks from view an object in the background...
in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
on February 18, 2004).