3244 Petronius
Encyclopedia
3244 Petronius is an asteroid
Asteroid
Asteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...

 found in the main belt
Asteroid belt
The asteroid belt is the region of the Solar System located roughly between the orbits of the planets Mars and Jupiter. It is occupied by numerous irregularly shaped bodies called asteroids or minor planets...

, a member of the Flora family of asteroids
Asteroid family
An asteroid family is a population of asteroids that share similar proper orbital elements, such as semimajor axis, eccentricity, and orbital inclination. The members of the families are thought to be fragments of past asteroid collisions...

. It was discovered by Cornelis Johannes van Houten
Cornelis Johannes van Houten
Cornelis Johannes van Houten was a Dutch astronomer, sometimes referred to as Kees van Houten.Born in The Hague, he spent his entire career at Leiden University except for a brief period as research assistant at Yerkes Observatory...

, Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld
Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld
Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld is a Dutch astronomer.In a jointly-credited trio with Tom Gehrels and her husband Cornelis Johannes van Houten, she was an extremely prolific discoverer of many thousands of asteroids...

 and Tom Gehrels
Tom Gehrels
Tom Gehrels , was an American astronomer, Professor Planetary Sciences, and Astronomer at the University of Arizona, Tucson....

 in 1960. It is named after Petronius Arbiter, the ancient Roman
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

 satirist and author of the Satyricon
Satyricon
Satyricon is a Latin work of fiction in a mixture of prose and poetry. It is believed to have been written by Gaius Petronius, though the manuscript tradition identifies the author as a certain Titus Petronius...

.
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