376 Geometria

376 Geometria is an asteroid located within the main [asteroid belt] that was discovered by French astronomer Auguste Charlois on 18 September 1893 in Nice, France. It is classified as an S-type asteroid. It is about in size and has a rotation period of 7.73 hours.

History

Geometria was discovered by astronomer Auguste Charlois on 18 September 1893 at Nice Observatory. Upon its discovery, it was given the old-style provisional designation, and by the next year it was assigned the permanent number. On 23 August 1901, it was named Geometria after the Latin word geometria, referring to the field of geometry. Its name was announced by Johann Bauschinger alongside those of 33 other minor planets on the journal Astronomische Nachrichten, with the names having been selected by the Astronomical Calculation Institute.
In 1925, the old-style minor planet provisional designation scheme was replaced by the system currently in use. The Minor Planet Center has since retroactively replaced old-style designations with new-style designations. Thus, Geometria's provisional designation given upon its discovery was replaced by.

Geometria orbits the Sun at an average distance—its semi-major axis—of 2.29 astronomical units, taking 3.46 years to complete one revolution. Along its orbit, its distance from the Sun varies between 1.89 AU at perihelion to 2.68 AU at aphelion due to its orbital eccentricity of 0.17. Its orbit is inclined by 5.43° with respect to the ecliptic plane.

Geometria has an estimated diameter of, with a roughly spherical shape. It is classified as an S-type asteroid in the Tholen classification scheme and an SI-type asteroid in the Small Main-belt Asteroid Spectroscopic Survey, [Phase II (SMASSII) classification] scheme. It has a geometric albedo of 0.321.
Observations of Geometria's lightcurve, or variations in its observed brightness, show that it has a rotation period of, accurately measured to within. It has a retrograde rotation, rotating backwards relative to its orbital direction with its rotational pole pointed towards the ecliptic south. Determinations of Geometria's rotation period remained relatively consistent in the past, with 1983 observations from the Observatoire de Haute-Provence yielding a period of hours and observations taken in November 1994 yielding a period of 7.734 hours. However, past attempts at determining Geometria's spin orientation were ambiguous.