Dike/ˈdaɪkiː/ (minor planet designation: 99 Dike) is a quite large and dark main-beltasteroid. Dike was discovered by Alphonse Borrelly on May 28, 1868. It was his first asteroid discovery. This object is named after Dike, the Greek goddess of moral justice. Among the first hundred numbered minor planets, 99 Dike was considered anomalously faint for over a century. However, this was later found to be untrue.[8]
This asteroid is orbiting the Sun with a period of 4.35 years and an eccentricity of 0.19. Its orbital planeisinclined by 13.8° to the plane of the ecliptic. The body spans a diameter of 69 km and it is classified as a C-type asteroid, which indicates it has a dark, carbonaceous surface. Based upon a light curve that was generated from photometric observations of this asteroid at Pulkovo Observatory, it has a rotation period of 18.127 ± 0.002 hours and varies in brightness by 0.22 ± 0.02 in magnitude.[5] However, according to Shrindan E. (2009) the rotation period is rather of 10.360 ± 0.001 h.[9]
The asteroid is located near the Juno clump of asteroids, but is most likely unrelated.[citation needed]
^ abPilcher, Frederick (October 2011), "Rotation Period Determinations for 11 Parthenope, 38 Leda, 111 Ate 194 Prokne, 217 Eudora, and 224 Oceana", The Minor Planet Bulletin, 38 (4): 183–185, Bibcode:2011MPBu...38..183P.
^Pilcher, Frederick (September 1979), "General Report of Position Observations by the A. L. P. O. Minor Planets Section", The Minor Planet Bulletin, 7: 1–7, Bibcode:1979MPBu....7....1P
^Sheridan, Edwin (2009), "Lightcurve Results for 99 Dike, 313 Chaldaea, 872 Holda 1274 Delportia, and 7304 Namiki", Minor Planet Bulletin, 36 (2): 55–56, Bibcode:2009MPBu...36...55S.
