516 Amherstia
Encyclopedia
516 Amherstia was the 8th asteroid discovered by Raymond Smith Dugan
Raymond Smith Dugan
Raymond Smith Dugan was an American astronomer and a graduate of Amherst College in Massachusetts .Dugan obtained his Masters Degree from Amherst College in 1902, and then received his Ph.D...

, and was named after Amherst College
Amherst College
Amherst College is a private liberal arts college located in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Amherst is an exclusively undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 1,744 students in the fall of 2009...

, his alma mater
Alma mater
Alma mater , pronounced ), was used in ancient Rome as a title for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele, and in Christianity for the Virgin Mary.-General term:...

. Amherstia is a large M-type asteroid
M-type asteroid
M-type asteroids are asteroids of partially known composition; they are moderately bright . Some, but not all, are made of nickel-iron, either pure or mixed with small amounts of stone. These are thought to be pieces of the metallic core of differentiated asteroids that were fragmented by impacts,...

, with an estimated diameter of 73 km. It follows an eccentric orbit between Jupiter
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn,...

 and Mars
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...

, with an orbital period of 4.39 years.
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