| Minorplanet: | yes |
| Background: |
|
| 679 Pax | |
| Mpc Name: | (679) Pax |
| Alt Names: | 1909 FY |
| Discovered: | 28 January 1909 |
| Epoch: | 31 July 2016 (JD 2457600.5) |
| Eccentricity: | 0.31135 |
| Semimajor: | 2.5859AU |
| Perihelion: | 1.7808AU |
| Aphelion: | 3.391abbr=onNaNabbr=on |
| Period: | 4.16 yr (1518.8 d) |
| Inclination: | 24.387° |
| Asc Node: | 112.263° |
| Arg Peri: | 266.736° |
| Mean Radius: | km 32.44 ± 1.82 km |
| Density: | 4.99 ± 1.62 g/cm3 |
| Mean Motion: | / day |
| Observation Arc: | 106.90 yr (39044 d) |
| Uncertainty: | 0 |
| Abs Magnitude: | 9.01 |
| Rotation: | 8.452abbr=onNaNabbr=on |
679 Pax is a minor planet orbiting the Sun that was discovered by German astronomer August Kopff on January 28, 1909. It is named after Pax, a Roman goddess. It is orbiting the Sun with a period of 4.16 years and an eccentricity of 0.31.
Measurements using the adaptive optics at the W. M. Keck Observatory give a mean diameter of 62 km. This is 16% larger than the diameter estimated using the IRAS observatory. The asteroid is elongated with a size ratio of 1.66 ± 0.23 between the major and minor axes. Photometric measurements reported in 1982 gave a rotation period of 8.452 hours. The asteroid's pole of rotation lies 32° away from the plane of the ecliptic.
Polarimetric study of this asteroid reveals anomalous properties that suggests the regolith consists of a mixture of low and high albedo material. This may have been caused by fragmentation of an asteroid substrate with the spectral properties of CO3/CV3 carbonaceous chondrites.