Asteroid Family - List of Families

List of Families

Family Name Named After orbital elements Size Alternate Names
a (AU) e i (°) approx. % of asteroids members in Zappalà
HCM analysis
The most prominent families within the main belt are:
Eos (Eoan) 221 Eos 2.99 to 3.03 0.01 to 0.13 8 to 12 480
Eunomia(n) 15 Eunomia 2.53 to 2.72 0.08 to 0.22 11.1 to 15.8 5% 370
Flora (Florian) 8 Flora 2.15 to 2.35 0.03 to 0.23 1.5 to 8.0 4–5% 590 Ariadne(an) family after 43 Ariadne
Hygiea(n) 10 Hygiea 3.06 to 3.24 0.09 to 0.19 3.5 to 6.8 1% 105
Koronis (Koronian) 158 Koronis 2.83 to 2.91 0 to 0.11 0 to 3.5 310
Maria(n) 170 Maria 2.5 to 2.706 12 to 17 80
Nysa (Nysian) 44 Nysa 2.41 to 2.5 0.12 to 0.21 1.5 to 4.3 380 Hertha (Herthian) family after 135 Hertha
Themis (Themistian) 24 Themis 3.08 to 3.24 0.09 to 0.22 0 to 3 530
Vesta (Vestian) 4 Vesta 2.26 to 2.48 0.03 to 0.16 5.0 to 8.3 6% 240
Other notable main belt families:
Adeona (Adeonian) 145 Adeona 65
Astrid(ian) 1128 Astrid 11
Bower(ian) 1639 Bower 13 Endymion (Endymionian) family after 342 Endymion
Brasilia(n) 293 Brasilia 14
Gefion(ian) 1272 Gefion 2.74 to 2.82 0.08 to 0.18 7.4 to 10.5 0.8% 89 Ceres (Cererian) family after 1 Ceres and
Minerva (Minervian) family after 93 Minerva
Chloris (Chloridian) 410 Chloris 24
Dora (Dorian) 668 Dora 78
Erigone (Erigonian) 163 Erigone 47
Hansa (Hansian) 480 Hansa ~2.66 ~0.06 ~22.0°
Hilda (Hildian) 153 Hilda 3.7 to 4.2 >0.07 <20° -
Karin 832 Karin 39
Lydia(n) 110 Lydia 38
Massalia(n) 20 Massalia 2.37 to 2.45 0.12 to 0.21 0.4 to 2.4 0.8% 47
Meliboea(n) 137 Meliboea 15
Merxia(n) 808 Merxia 28
Misa (Misian) 569 Misa 26
Naëma (Naëmian) 845 Naëma 7
Nemesis (Nemesian) 128 Nemesis 29 Concordia(n) family after 58 Concordia
Rafita (Rafitian) 1644 Rafita 22
Veritas (Veritasian) 490 Veritas 29 Undina (Undinian) family after 92 Undina
Theobalda (Theobaldian) 778 Theobalda 3.16 to 3.19 0.24 to 0.27 14 to 15
TNO families:
Haumea(n) 136108 Haumea ~43 ~0.19 ~28

Notes for table:

  • : Mean of the "core" members found in HCM and WAM analyses by Zappala et al. (1995), rounded to 2 significant digits. That analysis considered 12487 asteroids, but currently over 300,000 are known (an increase by a factor of over 25). Hence, the number of currently catalogued asteroids that are members of a given family is likely to be greater than the value in this column by a similar factor of roughly 25.
  • : Reference elsewhere.
  • : Most of these are families listed as "robustly" identified in Bendjoya and Zappala (2002). Exception: Karin family.
  • : TNOs are not considered asteroids, but are included here for completeness.

See also Category:Asteroid groups and families, which names some less prominent and uncertain groupings.

Read more about this topic:  Asteroid Family

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