astronomy

Petit-Prince (moon)

Petit-Prince (moon) is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Petit-Prince (moon) rather than just read about it. In short: Petit-Prince, formal designation (45) Eugenia I, is the larger, outer moon of asteroid 45 Eugenia. It was discovered in 1998 by astronomers at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii.

Key takeaways

Petit-Prince (moon) belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Petit-Prince (moon) to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Petit-Prince (moon) from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Petit-Prince, formal designation (45) Eugenia I, is the larger, outer moon of asteroid 45 Eugenia. It was discovered in 1998 by astronomers at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii. Initially, it received the provisional designation S/1998 (45) 1. Petit-Prince was the first asteroid moon to be discovered with a ground-based telescope. Previously, the only known moon of an asteroid was Dactyl, discovered by the Galileo space probe, around 243 Ida.

Characteristics Petit-Prince is 13 km in diameter, compared to 45 Eugenia's 214 km. It takes five days to complete an orbit around Eugenia.

Name The discoverers chose the name in honour of Empress Eugénie's son, the Prince Imperial. However, they also intended an allusion to the children's book The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, which is about a prince who lives on an asteroid. In their submission of the name to the IAU, the discovers justified the double meaning by arguing for similarities between the Prince Imperial and the Little Prince:

"Both princes were young and adventurous, and had little fear of danger. Both were of rather small stature. They both left the confines of their cozy little worlds (asteroid B612 for the Little Prince and Chislehurst for the Prince Imperial). They both then undertook long journeys to end up in Africa, whereupon they both meet rather violent deaths ... And in both cases, they lay alone for one night each after "death" and then "returned" back home..."

See also 2578 Saint-Exupéry 46610 Bésixdouze, whose name is the reading of B612 in French, after its permanent designation 46,610 (hexadecimal B612).

References

External links Data sheet compiled by W. Robert Johnston IAUC 7503 Archived 2006-05-01 at the Wayback Machine, announcing Petit-Prince's naming orbit details compiled by F. Marchis, includes diagrams

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Petit-Prince (moon)

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Petit-Prince (moon) claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Petit-Prince (moon) before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Petit-Prince (moon) ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Petit-Prince (moon)

In research: Petit-Prince (moon) appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Petit-Prince (moon) in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Petit-Prince (moon) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Asteroid satellites, Astronomical objects discovered in 1998, House of Bonaparte, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Petit-Prince (moon) outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Petit-Prince (moon) in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Petit-Prince (moon) means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Petit-Prince (moon) out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Petit-Prince (moon) in simple terms?

Petit-Prince, formal designation (45) Eugenia I, is the larger, outer moon of asteroid 45 Eugenia. It was discovered in 1998 by astronomers at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii.

Why does Petit-Prince (moon) matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Petit-Prince (moon)?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Petit-Prince (moon).