319 Leona
The outline of Leona's shape revealed in a stellar occultation from 13 September 2023 | |
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | A. Charlois |
| Discovery site | Nice Obs. |
| Discovery date | 8 October 1891 |
| Designations | |
| (319) Leona | |
| Pronunciation | /liːˈoʊnə/ |
Named after | unknown Leona |
| A920 HE | |
| main-belt · (outer) | |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Epoch 4 September 2017 (JD 2458000.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 125.32 yr (45,774 days) |
| Aphelion | 4.1451 AU |
| Perihelion | 2.6655 AU |
| 3.4053 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.2172 |
| 6.28 yr (2,295 days) | |
| 21.414° | |
| 0° 9m 24.48s / day | |
| Inclination | 10.564° |
| 184.95° | |
| 228.27° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 79.6 km × 54.8 km (± 2.2 km × 1.3 km) |
| 66±2 km | |
| 430±2 h | |
| 0.085±0.005 | |
| P · X · C | |
| 10.21 10.46±0.06 | |
319 Leona (provisional designation A920 HE) is a dark, carbonaceous asteroid in the outer regions of the asteroid belt. It was discovered on 8 October 1891, by French astronomer Auguste Charlois at Nice Observatory in France. On 12 December 2023, Leona passed in front of the bright star Betelgeuse and occulted it, which caused the star to briefly dim as seen from Central America, Europe, and east Asia. This occultation was expected to reveal the shape of Leona and the surface of Betelgeuse in high detail.