878 Mildred is a minor planet in the main belt orbiting the Sun. It is the lowest numbered, and thus the namesake, of the Mildred family of asteroids, a subgroup of the Nysa family. The Mildred subgroup, and by extension 878 Mildred itself, is thought to have been formed by a recent fragmentation event from a larger asteroid. Read more
Title: 878 Mildred Revealed Authors: Robert D. Stephens, Linda M. French
Observations of the main-belt asteroid 878 Mildred made at Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory in August 2010 found a synodic period of 2.660 ± 0.005 h and an amplitude of 0.23 ± 0.03 mag. Asteroid 878 Mildred has a famous history as a small solar system oddity. It was originally discovered on September 6, 1916, by Seth Nicholson (1916) and Harlow Shapley using the 1.5 m Hale Telescope at Mount Wilson Observatory, the worlds largest telescope at the time. Thinking the orbit was unusual; Nicholson and Shapley continued to observe the asteroid until October 18. It was then lost for 75 years.