| Orbital characteristics 1 | |
|---|---|
| Orbit type | Main belt |
| Semimajor axis | 2.596 AU |
| Perihelion distance | 1.979 AU |
| Aphelion distance | 3.213 AU |
| Orbital period | 4.18 years |
| Inclination | 8.07° |
| Eccentricity | 0.238 |
| Physical characteristics 1 | |
| Diameter | 113.2 km |
| Rotation period 3 | 18.14 hours |
| Spectral class 5 | P |
| Abs. magnitude | 8.31 |
| Albedo 4 | 0.065 |
| History 2 | |
| Discoverer | H. Goldschmidt, 1857 |
56 Melete (mel'-i-tee) is a large and dark main belt asteroid. It is a rather unusual class P asteroid, composition is probably organic rich silicates, carbon and anhydrous silicates, with possible internal water ice.
It was discovered by H. Goldschmidt on September 9, 1857 and was named after Melete, the Muse of meditation in Greek mythology.
So far two stellar occultations by Melete have been observed successfully (in 1997 and again in 2002).
Aspects
| Stationary, retrograde |
Opposition | Distance to Earth (AU) |
Maximum brightness (mag) |
Stationary, prograde |
Conjunction to Sun |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 June 2005 | 25 November 2005 | 2.23823 | 12.9 | 21 January 2006 | 15 March 2006 |
| 29 August 2006 | 25 February 2007 | 1.50914 | 11.4 | 10 April 2007 | 28 May 2007 |
| 9 January 2008 | 1 September 2008 | 1.42129 | 11.2 | 17 October 2008 | 30 November 2008 |
| 3 June 2009 | 13 November 2009 | 2.23102 | 12.9 | 8 January 2010 | 3 March 2010 |
| 14 August 2010 | 1 February 2011 | 1.74102 | 11.9 | 21 March 2011 | 10 May 2011 |
| 29 November 2011 | 6 August 2012 | 1.17361 | 10.6 | 18 September 2012 | 24 October 2012 |
| 17 May 2013 | 1 November 2013 | 2.17436 | 12.8 | 27 December 2013 | 19 February 2014 |
| 1 August 2014 | 12 January 2015 | 1.93490 | 12.3 | 4 March 2015 | 24 April 2015 |
| 29 October 2015 | 29 June 2016 | 1.00816 | 10.4 | 8 August 2016 | 10 September 2016 |
| 27 April 2017 | 20 October 2017 | 2.06800 | 12.6 | 14 December 2017 | 5 February 2018 |
| 18 July 2018 | 26 December 2018 | 2.08313 | 12.6 | 18 February 2019 | 11 April 2019 |
| 6 October 2019 | 14 May 2020 | 1.03003 | 10.5 | 21 June 2020 | 29 July 2020 |