Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 14, 2026

48 Doris

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.

Last revised
Jun 14, 2026
Read time
≈ 2 min
Length
446 w
Citations
22
Source
48 Doris
Discovery
Discovered byHermann Mayer Salomon Goldschmidt
Discovery date19 September 1857
Designations
Pronunciation/ˈdɔːrɪs/1
Named after
Doris
1857 SA, 1948 FE
Main belt
AdjectivesDorian /ˈdɔːriən/2
Orbital characteristics3
Epoch 31 December 2006 (JD 2454100.5)
Aphelion500.093 million km (3.343 AU)
Perihelion430.463 million km (2.877 AU)
465.278 million km (3.110 AU)
Eccentricity0.075
2003.453 d (5.49 a)
336.191°
Inclination6.554°
183.754°
257.583°
Physical characteristics
Dimensions278 km × 142 km4
215±3 km5
221.8±7.5 km (IRAS)3
Flattening0.28a
Mass(6.9±2.9)×1018 kg5
(12.3±6.0)×1018 kgb6
Mean density
1.32±0.55 g/cm35
2.12±1.07 g/cm36
11.89 h3
0.0665
0.0627
C3
7.143

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".8

Physical characteristics

An occultation on 19 March 1981 suggested a diameter of 219±25 km.9 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.4

Doris will pass within 0.019 AU of Pallas in June 2132.10

48 Doris is a location in the text-based science fiction game Federation 2.

Notes

Notes

  1. Flattening derived from the maximum aspect ratio (c/a): f = 1 c a {\displaystyle f=1-{\frac {c}{a}}} , where (c/a) = 0.72±0.01.5
  2. (6.1 ± 3.0) × 10−12 M
References

References

  1. "Doris". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Merriam-Webster. OCLC 1032680871.
  2. "Dorian". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  3. "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 48 Doris" (2008-06-13 last obs). Retrieved 10 November 2008.
  4. "Occultation of HIP 29126 by (48) Doris - 2001 November 28". Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand. Archived from the original on 19 February 2012. Retrieved 30 November 2008.
  5. P. Vernazza et al. (2021) VLT/SPHERE imaging survey of the largest main-belt asteroids: Final results and synthesis. Astronomy & Astrophysics 54, A56
  6. Masses and densities of minor planets Archived 2011-06-04 at the Wayback Machine - Yu. Chernetenko, O. Kochetova, and V. Shor
    Kochetova (2004)
  7. Asteroid Data Sets Archived 2009-12-17 at the Wayback Machine
  8. Schmadel, Lutz D. (2003). Dictionary of Minor Planet Names. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 20. ISBN 978-3-540-00238-3.
  9. Ludek Vasta; Jan Manek (26 July 2005). "Observed Minor Planet Occultation Events". Asteroidal Occultations (Czech Astronomical Society). Retrieved 7 December 2008.
  10. "JPL Close-Approach Data: 48 Doris" (2009-08-11 last obs). Retrieved 23 February 2010.
External links