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Thetis

17 Thetis

Minor Planet Designation17 Thetis
Asteroid GroupMain Asteroid Belt
Orbital Period3.9 years
Distance from the SunSemi-Major Axis: 369,674,397 km (2.47 AU)
Perihelion: 320,641,445 km (2.14 AU)
Aphelion: 418,707,349 km (2.80 AU)
Eccentricity0.2313
Diameter (Mean)93 kilometres
NotesThetis is a rocky asteroid of the S-type classification. At least some of the rock that makes it up is of igneous origin, implying that it underwent an event in the past - presumably a collision with another body - that caused it to melt and reform.

Derivation

Thetis was a Nereid, one of the daughters of Nereus, the Old Man of the Sea. She was the mother of Achilles, who has his own asteroid, numbered 588. It was Thetis who dipped her son in the River Styx to make him invulnerable, but she held him by the heel, and so gave him his famous weakness.

Orbit

Thetis orbits in the central regions of the main Asteroid Belt, in an orbit that lies close to the Ecliptic. Thetis' orbit takes it up to 2½ Astronomical Units from the Sun, and its journey round the Solar System takes just under four years to complete.

Structure

Thetis' mean diameter is some 93 kilometres (58 miles), making it very roughly the size of the island of Rhodes. It absorbs 85% of the sunlight that falls on it, making it a relatively dark object in comparison with brighter asteroids like Vesta.

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