Herculina at Opposition in 2010

Herculina will brighten to magnitude 8.8 at its opposition on 13 March 2010. The asteroid will be in Coma Berenices from the time it brightens to 9.5 at the end of January until the end of March when its northwestly retrograde movement will take it briefly into Ursa Major. As it starts moving back to the south, Herculina moves on into Leo mid April.

The asteroid commences moving in a retrograde sense after reaching a stationary point on February 11. The second stationary point is on May 2, marking the end of the asteroid's retrograde motion. From early March, Herculina will be more than 25° north of the celestial equator, so low in southern skies.

Herculina's orbital period is 4.62 years, its distance from the Sun varying between 2.28 and 3.27 AU. The orbital eccentricity is .178. This year's opposition is very favourable; Herculina is at perihelion, its closest to the Sun a month after opposition, so at 1.35 AU it is almost as close as it can get from the Earth. Similar oppositions occur every 60 years.

Herculina's orbit is inclined at 16.312° to the ecliptic. The asteroid has a diameter about 231 km. It was discovered 1904 April 20 by H Wolf at Heidelberg, Germnay.