48 Doris
 VLT-SPHERE image of Doris | |
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Hermann Mayer Salomon Goldschmidt |
| Discovery date | 19 September 1857 |
| Designations | |
| Pronunciation | /ˈdɔːrɪs/ |
Named after | Doris |
| 1857 SA, 1948 FE | |
| Main belt | |
| Adjectives | Dorian /ˈdɔːriən/ |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Epoch 31 December 2006 (JD 2454100.5) | |
| Aphelion | 500.093 million km (3.343 AU) |
| Perihelion | 430.463 million km (2.877 AU) |
| 465.278 million km (3.110 AU) | |
| Eccentricity | 0.075 |
| 2003.453 d (5.49 a) | |
| 336.191° | |
| Inclination | 6.554° |
| 183.754° | |
| 257.583° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | (257 × 211 × 185) ± 3 km |
| 215±3 km | |
| Mass | (7.15±0.34)×1018 kg (2025) (6.71±0.85)×1018 kg (2023) |
Mean density | 1.37±0.09 g/cm3 (2025) 1.29±0.17 g/cm3 (2023) |
| 11.890105±0.000001 h | |
| 45° | |
Pole ecliptic longitude | 294° ± 2° |
Pole ecliptic latitude | 51° ± 2° |
| 0.066 0.065 ± 0.008 0.062 | |
| C | |
| 6.90 7.10 | |
48 Doris is one of the largest main belt asteroids. It was discovered on 19 September 1857 by Hermann Goldschmidt from his balcony in Paris.
To find a name for the object, Jacques Babinet of the Academy of Sciences created a shortlist and asked the geologist Élie de Beaumont to make the selection. De Beaumont chose Doris, after an Oceanid in Greek mythology. Since Doris was discovered on the same night as 49 Pales, de Beaumont suggested naming the two "The Twins".
Physical characteristics
An occultation on 19 March 1981 suggested a diameter of 219±25 km. Observations of an occultation on 14 October 1999, using four well-placed chords, indicate an ellipsoid of 278×142 km and that 48 Doris is an extremely irregularly shaped object.
