Astron. Astrophys. 354, 725-731 (2000)

5. Conclusion

Two new asteroid masses have been determined, which leads to 16 masses of asteroids determined until now, to our knowledge. The value obtained for the mass of Psyche, M, indicates that this mass may be 2 or 3 times smaller as expected. On the other hand, the mass found for Hermione, M, corresponds to the expected value. These determinations give a mean density of about 1.8 g/cm³ for both asteroids, which is consistent with most of other asteroids for which mass determinations have already been made, although it is much smaller than expected in the case of Psyche. While the accuracy of the value found for the mass of Psyche needs to be improved, clarification of the situation of this asteroid could also be obtained if more accurate dimensions of this asteroid measured from star occultations were available.

© European Southern Observatory (ESO) 2000

Online publication: February 9, 2000
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