11351 Leucus

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11351 Leucus
11351 Leucus Hubble.jpg
Hubble Space Telescope of Leucus taken in 2018
Discovery[1]
Discovered bySCAP
Discovery siteBeijing Xinglong Obs.
Discovery date12 October 1997
Designations
(11351) Leucus
Pronunciation/ˈljuːkəs/[5]
Named after
Leucus (Greek mythology)[1]
Alternative designations
1997 TS25 · 1996 VP39
Minor planet category
Jupiter trojan[1][2]
Greek[3] · background[4]
Orbital characteristics[2]
Epoch 23 March 2018 (JD 2458200.5)
Uncertainty parameter 0
Observation arc20.57 yr (7,515 d)
Aphelion5.6224 AU
Perihelion4.9513 AU
5.2869 AU
Eccentricity0.0635
12.16 yr (4,440 d)
258.08°
0° 4m 51.96s / day
Inclination11.556°
251.08°
160.85°
Jupiter MOID0.1005 AU
TJupiter2.9550
Physical characteristics
Mean diameter
34.16±0.65 km[6]
42.16±4.0 km[7]
445.732 h[2]
515±5 h[8][a]
0.0627±0.014[7]
0.079±0.013[6]
D (assumed)[9]
B–V = 0.739±0.044[10]
V–R = 0.498±0.044[10]
V–I = 0.900±0.057[10]
Absolute magnitude (H)
10.7[1][2][6][11]

11351 Leucus /ˈljuːkəs/ is a mid-sized Jupiter trojan from the Greek camp, approximately 40 kilometers (25 miles) in diameter. It is a target of the Lucy mission, scheduled for a fly by in April 2028.[9][12] The assumed D-type asteroid is an exceptionally slow rotator with a rotation period of 466 hours.[2] It was discovered on 12 October 1997 by the Beijing Schmidt CCD Asteroid Program (SCAP) at Xinglong Station in the Chinese province of Hebei, and later named after the Achaean warrior Leucus from Greek mythology.[1]

Orbit and classification[]

Leucus is a dark Jovian asteroid in a 1:1 orbital resonance with Jupiter. It is located in the leading Greek camp at Jupiter's L4 Lagrangian point, 60° ahead of its orbit (see Trojans in astronomy). It is also a non-family asteroid in the Jovian background population.[4]

It orbits the Sun at a distance of 5.0–5.6 AU once every 12 years and 2 months (4,440 days; semi-major axis of 5.29 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.06 and an inclination of 12° with respect to the ecliptic.[2] The body's observation arc begins with a precovery taken at the Siding Spring Observatory in July 1982, more than 15 years prior to its official discovery observation at Xinglong.[1]

Lucy mission target[]

Leucus is planned to be visited by the Lucy spacecraft which will launch in 2021. The fly by is scheduled for 18 April 2028, and will approach the asteroid to a distance of 1000 kilometers at a velocity of 5.9 kilometers per second.[9]

Physical characteristics[]

Leucus is an assumed D-type asteroid,[9] which is the dominant spectral type among the Jovian asteroids, with the remainder being mostly carbonaceous C-type and primitive P-type asteroids.

Slow rotator[]

During spring 2013, a rotational lightcurve of Leucus was obtained from photometric observations made by astronomers Robert Stephens and Daniel Coley at the Center for Solar System Studies (CS3), California, using a 0.35/0.4-meter Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope. The lightcurve showed an exceptionally slow rotation period of 513.7 hours with a brightness variation of 0.53 in magnitude (U=2+). No evidence of a non-principal axis rotation (NPAR) was found.[8][a] It is one of the slowest rotators known to exist.

In preparation for the planned visit by the Lucy spacecraft, Leucus was once again observed by astronomers Marc Buie at SwRI and Stefano Mottola at DLR in 2016. The obtained bimodal lightcurve gave a somewhat shorter period of 440 hours and an amplitude of 0.7 magnitude.[13]

Diameter and albedo[]

According to the surveys carried out by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite IRAS, and NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Leucus has a low albedo of 0.06 and 0.08, with a diameter of 42.1 and 34.2 kilometers, respectively.[6][7] The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link derives a lower albedo of 0.05 and a diameter of 42.1 kilometers, in accordance with the result obtained by IRAS.[11]

100+ largest Jupiter trojans

Naming[]

This minor planet was named from Greek mythology, after the Achaean warrior Leucus in Homer's Iliad. He was a companion of Odysseus.[1] Leucus was killed during the Trojan War by Antiphus, one of the fifty sons of King Priam of Troy.[14] The approved naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 22 February 2016 (M.P.C. 98711).[15]

Notes[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b lightcurve plot of 11351 Leucus by Daniel Coley at the Center for Solar System Studies from 29 March to 1 May 2013, giving a period of 513.7±1.3 hours. Quality code of 2

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g "11351 Leucus (1997 TS25)". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 11351 Leucus (1997 TS25)" (2017-06-07 last obs.). Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
  3. ^ "List of Jupiter Trojans". Minor Planet Center. 1 June 2018. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b "Asteroid (11351) Leucus – Proper Elements". AstDyS-2, Asteroids – Dynamic Site. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
  5. ^ Noah Webster (1884) A Practical Dictionary of the English Language
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Grav, T.; Mainzer, A. K.; Bauer, J. M.; Masiero, J. R.; Nugent, C. R. (November 2012). "WISE/NEOWISE Observations of the Jovian Trojan Population: Taxonomy". The Astrophysical Journal. 759 (1): 10. arXiv:1209.1549. Bibcode:2012ApJ...759...49G. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/759/1/49. S2CID 119101711. (online catalog)
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b c Tedesco, E. F.; Noah, P. V.; Noah, M.; Price, S. D. (October 2004). "IRAS Minor Planet Survey V6.0". NASA Planetary Data System – IRAS-A-FPA-3-RDR-IMPS-V6.0: IRAS-A-FPA-3-RDR-IMPS-V6.0. Bibcode:2004PDSS...12.....T. Retrieved 15 June 2018.
  8. ^ Jump up to: a b French, Linda M.; Stephens, Robert, D.; Coley, Daniel R.; Wasserman, Lawrence H.; Vilas, Faith; La Rocca, Daniel (October 2013). "A Troop of Trojans: Photometry of 24 Jovian Trojan Asteroids". The Minor Planet Bulletin. 40 (4): 198–203. Bibcode:2013MPBu...40..198F. ISSN 1052-8091.
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Levison, H. F.; Olkin, C.; Noll, K. S.; Marchi, S.; Lucy Team (March 2017). "Lucy: Surveying the Diversity of the Trojan Asteroids: The Fossils of Planet Formation" (PDF). 48th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (1964): 2025. Bibcode:2017LPI....48.2025L. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  10. ^ Jump up to: a b c Hainaut, O. R.; Boehnhardt, H.; Protopapa, S. (October 2012). "Colours of minor bodies in the outer solar system. II. A statistical analysis revisited". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 546: 20. arXiv:1209.1896. Bibcode:2012A&A...546A.115H. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201219566. S2CID 54776793.
  11. ^ Jump up to: a b "LCDB Data for (11351) Leucus". Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB). Retrieved 22 June 2018.
  12. ^ Casey Dreier; Emily Lakdawalla (30 September 2015). "NASA announces five Discovery proposals selected for further study". The Planetary Society. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  13. ^ Buie, Marc W.; Zangari, Amanda Marie; Marchi, Simone; Mottola, Stefano; Levison, Harold F. (October 2016). "Ground-based characterization of Leucus and Polymele, two fly-by targets of the Lucy Discovery mission". American Astronomical Society. 48: 208.06. Bibcode:2016DPS....4820806B.
  14. ^ Homer, Iliad, 4. 491
  15. ^ "MPC/MPO/MPS Archive". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 22 June 2018.

External links[]

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