810 Atossa
810 Atossa is a bright, elongated asteroid in the inner part of the asteroid belt. It was discovered on September 8, 1915, by German astronomer Max Wolf at Heidelberg Observatory. The asteroid is named after Atossa, the ancient Persian queen.
Orbit and physicals in brief:
- Orbits the Sun every about 3.22 years (1,174 days) at a distance of roughly 1.8 to 2.6 AU. Its path is slightly elliptical and tilted about 2.6 degrees.
- Size and reflectivity: about 8 kilometers across with an albedo around 0.22, suggesting a stony surface. Absolute magnitude is around 12.5.
- Rotation and shape: spins every ~4.385 hours, indicating a non-spherical, elongated shape. Two possible spin-axis solutions are (12°, 67°) and (188°, 69°) in ecliptic coordinates.
- Family status: its membership is debated. Some studies link it to the Flora family; others classify it as a background asteroid.
What we know from measurements:
- NEOWISE data give a diameter of about 8.10 km and an albedo of ~0.224.
- Other estimates report diameters ranging roughly from 7.0 to 8.4 km and albedos from 0.21 to 0.35.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 12:48 (CET).