32 Pomona is a main-belt 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...

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Pomona was discovered by H. Goldschmidt

Hermann Mayer Salomon Goldschmidt

Hermann Mayer Salomon Goldschmidt was a German-French astronomer and painter who spent much of his life in France. He started out as a painter, but after attending a lecture by the famous French astronomer Urbain Le Verrier turned to astronomy...

 on October 26, 1854. It is named after Pomona

Pomona

Pomona was a goddess of fruitful abundance in ancient Roman religion and myth. Her name comes from the Latin word pomum, "fruit," specifically orchard fruit. She was said to be a wood nymph and a part of the Numia, guardian spirits who watch over people, places, or homes...

, the Roman

Roman mythology

Roman mythology is the body of traditional stories pertaining to ancient Rome's legendary origins and religious system, as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans...

 goddess of fruit tree

Fruit tree

A fruit tree is a tree which bears fruit that is consumed or used by people — all trees that are flowering plants produce fruit, which are the ripened ovaries of flowers containing one or more seeds. In horticultural usage, the term 'fruit tree' is limited to those that provide fruit for...

s.

Observations

Australian amateur astronomer Jonathan Bradshaw recorded an unusual asteroid occultation by 32 Pomona on 16 August 2008. The expected maximum duration of the occultation was 7.1 secs; however, the video recording shows two separate occultations of equal depth each lasting 1.2 seconds, separated by 0.8 secs. Those durations convert to chord

Chord (astronomy)

In the field of astronomy the term chord typically refers to a line crossing an object which is formed during an occultation event. By taking accurate measurements of the start and end times of the event, in conjunction with the known location of the observer and the object's orbit, the length of...

lengths at the asteroid of 15 km, 10 km, and 15 km – for a total length of 40 km. The IRAS diameter for Pomona is 86.3 km. The most likely explanation for this observation is that the asteroid is either binary (including a contact binary), or is a unitary asteroid with a significant concave region on its surface. The video of this occultation can be viewed on YouTube.