An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics

The largest member of a rare class of → asteroids with a high surface → albedo, classified as an → E-type. It has an albedo of about 0.5, and is irregularly shaped, 113 × 67 × 65 km. Nysa has an → aphelion of 2.782 → astronomical units and a → perihelion of 2.064 AU. The → eccentricity is 0.15 with an → inclination of 3.70 degrees. The → orbital period is 1,378 days, or 3.77 years. It rotates in 6.42 h. The apparent magnitude ranges from 8.83 to 12.46. Nysa’s orbit makes it the largest E-type asteroid inside Jupiter’s resonance orbits. Nysa was discovered by Hermann Goldschmidt on May 27, 1857.

See also: Named after the birthplace of Dionysus in Greek mythology.