51 Nemausa is a large asteroid-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...

 similar to 1 Ceres

1 Ceres

Ceres, formally 1 Ceres, is the smallest identified dwarf planet in the Solar System and the only one in the asteroid belt. With a diameter of about 950 km, Ceres is by far the largest and most-massive asteroid, comprising about a third of the mass of the asteroid belt. Discovered on 1 January 1801...

 in composition. It was discovered by one "A. Laurent

A. Laurent

A. Laurent was a Frenchman who discovered the asteroid 51 Nemausa in 1858.He never made any more asteroid discoveries and not much more seems to be known about him...

", an obscure figure about whom little is known. Laurent made the discovery from the private observatory of Benjamin Valz

Benjamin Valz

Jean Elias Benjamin Valz was a French astronomer.He was born in Nîmes and trained as an engineer. He became interested in astronomy and comets in particular, observing the return of what would later be named Comet Encke...

 in Nîmes

Nîmes

Nîmes is the capital of the Gard department in the Languedoc-Roussillon region in southern France. Nîmes has a rich history, dating back to the Roman Empire, and is a popular tourist destination.-History:...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. The house, at 32 rue Nationale in Nîmes, has a plaque commemorating the discovery. With Laurent's permission, Valz named the asteroid after the Celtic

Celtic mythology

Celtic mythology is the mythology of Celtic polytheism, apparently the religion of the Iron Age Celts. Like other Iron Age Europeans, the early Celts maintained a polytheistic mythology and religious structure...

 god Nemausus

Nemausus

Deus Nemausus is often said to have been the Celtic patron god of Nemausus . The god does not seem to have been worshipped outside of this locality...

, the patron god of Nîmes during Roman times.

Nemausa measures 147.9km in diameter. Lightcurve data suggests that it may have a small moon

Asteroid moon

A minor planet moon is an astronomical body that orbits a minor planet as its natural satellite. It is thought that many asteroids and Kuiper belt objects may possess moons, in some cases quite substantial in size...

. It may have a water content of about 14%.

External links

• Orbital simulation from JPL (Java) / Horizons Ephemeris