(7) irises

(7) Iris is an asteroid belonging to the asteroid belt discovered by John Russell Hind from the George Bishop Observatory in London, United Kingdom, on August 13, 1847. It is named after Iris, a goddess from Greek mythology.

Asteroid Iris

Orbital characteristics

Iris orbits at an average distance of 2,387 AU from the Sun, being able to get as close as 1,836 AU and as far as 2,937 AU. She has an eccentricity of 0.2308 and an orbital inclination of 5.523°. It takes 1,347 days to complete one orbit around the Sun.

Physical characteristics

Orbits of the Earth, Mars, Iris and Jupiter.

Iris is one of the largest asteroids in the asteroid belt. It has a very bright colored surface and is probably composed of a mixture of nickel-iron metals and iron-magnesium silicates. Iris was observed occulting a star on May 26, 1995, and again on July 25, 1997. From both observations, a diameter of about 200 km was calculated. Observations of its visual spectrum suggest that, due to its mineral properties, Iris may be a source of chondrite-type meteorites.^{[citation needed]}