870 Manto
870 Manto is a stony background asteroid and slow rotator from the inner region of the asteroid belt. It was discovered on 12 May 1917, by astronomer Max Wolf at the Heidelberg Observatory in southwest Germany. The likely heavily elongated S-type asteroid has a long rotation period of 122.3 hours and measures approximately in diameter. It was named after Manto, a prophetess in Greek mythology.
Orbit and classification
Manto is a non-family asteroid of the main belt's background population when applying the hierarchical clustering method to its proper orbital elements. It orbits the Sun in the inner asteroid belt at a distance of 1.7–2.9 AU once every 3 years and 6 months. Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.27 and an inclination of 6° with respect to the ecliptic. The asteroid was first observed as at Taunton Observatory on 11 October 1907, and again as at the Simeiz Observatory on 16 October 1914. The body's observation arc begins with its official discovery observation at Heidelberg Observatory on 12 May 1917.Naming
This minor planet was named after Manto from Greek mythology. She was the daughter of Teresias Thebanus and a famous soothsayer, who erected of a temple of Apollo in Claros. The was also mentioned in The Names of the Minor Planets by Paul Herget in 1955.Physical characteristics
Manto is a common stony S-type asteroid in the Bus–Binzel SMASS classification, and in both the Tholen- and SMASS-like taxonomy of the Small Solar System Objects Spectroscopic Survey.Rotation period
In September 2013, a rotational lightcurve of Manto was obtained from photometric observations by Frederick Pilcher at the Organ Mesa Observatory, New Mexico, in collaboration with Eduardo Manuel Alvarez, Andrea Ferrero, Daniel Klinglesmith and Julian Oey Lightcurve analysis gave an exceptionally long rotation period of hours with a notably high brightness amplitude of magnitude, indicative of an elongated shape. With a period above 100 hours, the asteroid is a slow rotator. The result supersedes observations by Alain W. Harris from July 1981, and by astronomers at the Intermediate Palomar Transient Factory in California.In 2016, a modeled lightcurve gave a concurring sidereal period of hours using data from a large collaboration of individual observers. The study also determined two spin axes of and in ecliptic coordinates.