146 Lucina is a main-beltasteroid that was discovered by Alphonse Borrelly on June 8, 1875, and named after Lucina, the Roman goddess of childbirth. It is large, dark and has a carbonaceous composition. The spectra of the asteroid displays evidence of aqueous alteration.[7]
Photometric observations of this asteroid made during 1979 and 1981 gave a light curve with a period of 18.54 hours.[8]
Two stellaroccultations by Lucina have been observed so far, in 1982 and 1989. During the first event, a possible small satellite with an estimated 5.7 km diameter was detected at a distance of 1,600 km from 146 Lucina.[9] A 1992 search using a CCD failed to discover a satellite larger than 0.6 km, although it may have been obscured by occultation mask.[10] Further evidence for a satellite emerged in 2003, this time based on astrometric measurements.[11]
^ abcdPravec, P.; et al. (May 2012), "Absolute Magnitudes of Asteroids and a Revision of Asteroid Albedo Estimates from WISE Thermal Observations", Asteroids, Comets, Meteors 2012, Proceedings of the conference held May 16–20, 2012 in Niigata, Japan, vol. 1667, no. 1667, p. 6089, Bibcode:2012LPICo1667.6089P. See Table 4.
^Fornasier, S.; et al. (February 1999), "Spectroscopic comparison of aqueous altered asteroids with CM2 carbonaceous chondrite meteorites", Astronomy and Astrophysics Supplement, 135: 65−73, Bibcode:1999A&AS..135...65F, doi:10.1051/aas:1999161.
^Schober, H. J. (July 1983), "The large C-type asteroids 146 Lucina and 410 Chloris, and the small S-type asteroids 152 Atala and 631 Philippina - Rotation periods and lightcurves", Astronomy and Astrophysics Supplement Series, 53: 71–75, Bibcode:1983A&AS...53...71S.
^Stern, S. Alan; Barker, Edwin S. (December 1992), "A CCD search for distant satellites of asteroids 3 Juno and 146 Lucina", In Lunar and Planetary Inst., Asteroids, Comets, Meteors 1991, pp. 577–581, Bibcode:1992acm..proc..577S.
^Kikwaya, J.-B.; et al. (March 2003), "Does 146 Lucina Have a Satellite? An Astrometric Approach", 34th Annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, March 17–21, 2003, League City, Texas, abstract no.1214, p. 1214, Bibcode:2003LPI....34.1214K.