101 Helena


101 Helena is a large, rocky main-belt asteroid. It was discovered by Canadian-American astronomer J. C. Watson on August 15, 1868, and was named after Helen of Troy in Greek mythology.
This object is orbiting the Sun with a period of 4.16 years and an eccentricity of 0.14. Its orbital plane is inclined by 10. to the plane of the ecliptic. Radar observations were made of this object on Oct 7 and 19, 2001 from the Arecibo Observatory. Analysis of the data gave an estimated ellipsoidal diameter of 71×63×63 ± 16% km. The mean diameter estimated from IRAS infrared measurements is 66 km, in agreement with the radar findings. It is classified as an S-type asteroid in the Tholen system, suggesting a predominantly silicate composition. 101 Helena is spinning on its axis with a period of 23 hours.