Amphitrite was discovered by Albert Marth on 1 March 1854, at the private South Villa Observatory, in Regent's Park, London. It was Marth's only asteroid discovery. Its name was chosen by George Bishop, the owner of the observatory, who named it after Amphitrite, a sea goddess in Greek mythology.[2] Its historical symbol was a shell and star; it is in the pipeline for Unicode 17.0 as U+1CECF ().[15][16]
Amphitrite's orbit is less eccentric and inclined than those of its larger cousins; indeed, it is the most circular of any asteroid discovered up to that point. As a consequence, it never becomes as bright as Iris or Hebe, especially as it is much further from the Sun than those asteroids. It can reach magnitudes of around +8.6 at a favorable opposition, but usually is around the binocular limit of +9.5.
In 2007, James Baer and Steven R. Chesley estimated Amphitrite to have a mass of 1.9×1019 kg.[17] A more recent estimate by Baer suggests it has a mass of 1.18×1019 kg.[8]
A satellite of the asteroid is suspected to exist, based on lightcurve data collected by Edward F. Tedesco.[18][19] In 1988 a search for satellites or dust orbiting this asteroid was performed using the UH88 telescope at the Mauna Kea Observatories, but neither were found.[20]
↑Noah Webster (1884) A Practical Dictionary of the English Language
↑ 7.07.17.27.37.4P. Vernazza et al. (2021) VLT/SPHERE imaging survey of the largest main-belt asteroids: Final results and synthesis. Astronomy & Astrophysics 54, A56
↑ 9.09.1Masiero, Joseph R.; Grav, T.; Mainzer, A. K.; Nugent, C. R.; Bauer, J. M.; Stevenson, R. et al. (August 2014). "Main-belt Asteroids with WISE/NEOWISE: Near-infrared Albedos". The Astrophysical Journal791 (2): 11. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/791/2/121. Bibcode: 2014ApJ...791..121M.
↑Hanus, J.; Marchis, F.; Durech, J. (September 2013). "Sizes of main-belt asteroids by combining shape models and Keck adaptive optics observations". Icarus226 (1): 1045–1057. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2013.07.023. Bibcode: 2013Icar..226.1045H.
↑ 11.011.1Usui, Fumihiko; Kuroda, Daisuke; Müller, Thomas G.; Hasegawa, Sunao; Ishiguro, Masateru; Ootsubo, Takafumi et al. (October 2011). "Asteroid Catalog Using Akari: AKARI/IRC Mid-Infrared Asteroid Survey". Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan63 (5): 1117–1138. doi:10.1093/pasj/63.5.1117. Bibcode: 2011PASJ...63.1117U. (online, AcuA catalog p. 153)
↑Baer, James; Steven R. Chesley (2008). "Astrometric masses of 21 asteroids, and an integrated asteroid ephemeris". Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy100 (2008): 27–42. doi:10.1007/s10569-007-9103-8. Bibcode: 2008CeMDA.100...27B.
↑van Flandern, T. C.; Tedesco, E. F.; Binzel, R. P. (1979). "Satellites of asteroids". Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press. pp. 443–465. Bibcode: 1979aste.book..443V.
↑Gradie, J.; Flynn, L. (March 1988), "A Search for Satellites and Dust Belts Around Asteroids: Negative Results", Abstracts of the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference19: pp. 405–406, Bibcode: 1988LPI....19..405G