762 Pulcova is a main-belt asteroid

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...

. It was discovered by Grigoriy N. Neujmin in 1913, and is named after Pulkovo Observatory

Pulkovo Observatory

The Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory астрономи́ческая обсервато́рия Росси́йской акаде́мии нау́к), the principal astronomical observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences, located 19 km south of Saint Petersburg on Pulkovo Heights...

, near Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...

. Pulcova is 137 km in diameter, and is a C-type asteroid

C-type asteroid

C-type asteroids are carbonaceous asteroids. They are the most common variety, forming around 75% of known asteroids, and an even higher percentage in the outer part of the asteroid belt beyond 2.7 AU, which is dominated by this asteroid type...

, which means that it is dark in colouring with a carbonate

Carbonate

In chemistry, a carbonate is a salt of carbonic acid, characterized by the presence of the carbonate ion, . The name may also mean an ester of carbonic acid, an organic compound containing the carbonate group C2....

 composition.

Satellite

On February 22, 2000, astronomers at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope

Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope

The Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope is located near the summit of Mauna Kea mountain on Hawaii's Big Island at an altitude of 4,204 meters , and is one of the observatories that comprise the Mauna Kea Observatory...

 on Mauna Kea

Mauna Kea

Mauna Kea is a volcano on the island of Hawaii. Standing above sea level, its peak is the highest point in the state of Hawaii. However, much of the mountain is under water; when measured from its oceanic base, Mauna Kea is over tall—significantly taller than Mount Everest...

, Hawaii, discovered a small, 15-km moon (roughly a 10th the size of the primary) orbiting Pulcova at a distance of 800 km. The satellite is about 4 magnitudes

Apparent magnitude

The apparent magnitude of a celestial body is a measure of its brightness as seen by an observer on Earth, adjusted to the value it would have in the absence of the atmosphere...

 fainter than the primary. It was one of the first asteroid moons to be identified.

Density

In the year 2000, Merline estimated Pulcova to have a density

Density

The mass density or density of a material is defined as its mass per unit volume. The symbol most often used for density is ρ . In some cases , density is also defined as its weight per unit volume; although, this quantity is more properly called specific weight...

 of 1.8 g/cm³, which would make it more dense than the binary asteroids 45 Eugenia

45 Eugenia

45 Eugenia is a large main-belt asteroid. It is famed as one of the first asteroids to be found to have a moon orbiting it. It is also the second known triple asteroid, after 87 Sylvia.- Discovery :...

 and 90 Antiope

90 Antiope

The most remarkable feature of Antiope is that it consists of two components of almost equal size , making it a truly "double" asteroid. Its binary nature was discovered on 10 August 2000 by a group of astronomers using adaptive optics at the Keck Telescope on Mauna Kea. The "secondary" is...

. But estimates by Marchis in 2008 suggest a density of only 0.90 g/cm³, suggesting it may be a loosely-packed rubble pile, not a monolithic object.

External links

• Orbital simulation from JPL (Java) / Ephemeris
• (762) Pulcova (Robert Johnston)