318 Magdalena is a main belt asteroid orbiting the Sun. It was discovered by French astronomer Auguste Charlois on 24 September 1891 in Nice. It may be named for Mary Magdalene, who in legend travelled to Southern Gaul and is the patron saint of Provence.
This asteroid is orbiting the Sun at a distance of with a low eccentricity of 0.085 and an orbital period of 5.71 years. The orbital period is inclined at an angle of 10.7° to the plane of the ecliptic. It is spinning with a rotation period of 42.49 hours.
Measurements made with the IRAS observatory give a diameter of 106.08 km and a geometric albedo of 0.03. By comparison, the MIPS photometer on the Spitzer Space Telescope gives a diameter of 105.32 km and a geometric albedo of 0.03 ± 0.01.
On April 15, 2005, UT Magdalena occulted a 10.7 mag star in the constellation Scutum for observers along a path across Australia.
Alternative rock group The Pixies named one of their songs after the asteroid on their album Indie Cindy.
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