624 Hektor
Discovery [1] | |
---|---|
Discovered by | A. Kopff |
Discovery site | Heidelberg Obs. |
Discovery date | 10 February 1907 |
Designations | |
(624) Hektor | |
Pronunciation | /ˈhɛktər/[6] |
Named after | Hector (Greek mythology)[2] |
1907 XM; 1948 VD | |
Minor planet category | Jupiter trojan [1][3] · Hektor [4] (Greek camp)[5] |
Adjectives | Hektorean or Hektorian (both /hɛkˈtɔːriən/)[6] |
Orbital characteristics [3] | |
Epoch 23 March 2018 (JD 2458200.5) | |
Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
Observation arc | 111.28 yr (40,646 d) |
Aphelion | 5.3824 AU |
Perihelion | 5.1319 AU |
5.2571 AU | |
Eccentricity | 0.0238 |
12.05 yr (4,403 d) | |
136.09° | |
0° 4m 54.48s / day | |
Inclination | 18.166° |
342.79° | |
185.22° | |
Known satellites | 1 |
Jupiter MOID | 0.2752 AU |
TJupiter | 2.8990 |
Physical characteristics | |
Dimensions | 403 km × 201 km (derived)[7] 370 km × 195 km × 195 km[8] |
Mean diameter | 250±26 km[7] (if bilobe: 256±12 km)[7] 225 km[3] 147±2 km[9] 227±15 km[10] 231±4 km[11] |
Mass | (7.9±1.4)×1018 kg[7] (9.95±0.12)×1018 kg[10] |
Mean density | 1.0±0.3 g/cm3[7] 1.63±0.32 g/cm3[10] 2.43±0.35 g/cm3[12] |
6.9205 hours (0.28835 d)[7] | |
0.025[3] 0.034±0.001[11] 0.107±0.011[9] | |
D (Tholen)[3] | |
13.79 to 15.26[citation needed] | |
Absolute magnitude (H) | 7.20[9] · 7.3[3] · 7.49[11] |
0.078" to 0.048"[citation needed] | |
624 Hektor /ˈhɛktər/ is the largest Jupiter trojan and the namesake of the Hektor family, with a highly elongated shape equivalent in volume to a sphere of approximately 225 to 250 kilometers diameter. It was discovered on 10 February 1907, by astronomer August Kopff at Heidelberg Observatory in southwest Germany, and named after the Trojan prince Hector, from Greek mythology.[1][2] It has one small 12-kilometer sized satellite, Skamandrios, discovered in 2006.[7]
Description[]
Hektor is a D-type asteroid, dark and reddish in colour. It lies in Jupiter's leading Lagrangian point, L4, called the Greek camp after one of the two sides in the legendary Trojan War. Hektor is named after the Trojan hero Hektor and is thus one of two trojan asteroids that is "misplaced" in the wrong camp (the other one being 617 Patroclus in the Trojan camp).
Contact-binary hypothesis[]
Hektor is one of the most elongated bodies of its size in the Solar System, being approximately 403 km in its longest dimension, but averaging only around 201 km in its other dimensions, with a total volume equivalent to an approx 250 km diameter sphere, and an estimated mass of 7.9×1018 kg (thus density of 1.0g/cm3). It is thought that Hektor might be a contact binary (two asteroids joined by gravitational attraction) like 216 Kleopatra, composed of two more rounded lobes of 220 and 183 km mean diameters.[7] Hubble Space Telescope observations of Hektor in 1993 did not show an obvious bilobate shape because of a limited angular resolution. On 17 July 2006, the Keck 10-meter-II-telescope and its laser guide star adaptive optics (AO) system indicated a bilobate shape for Hektor,[13] which was reinforced by later studies that, together with multiple historical lightcurves, suggest a rotation period of 6.9205 hours.[7]
Hektor is, so far, one of only three known binary trojan asteroids in the L4 point (the others being 16974 Iphthime and 3548 Eurybates) and the first known trojan with a satellite companion. 617 Patroclus, another large trojan asteroid located in the L5 point, is composed of two almost equal-sized components.[13] There are now a further two known binary asteroids in the L5 point, (17365) 1978 VF11 and 29314 Eurydamas.[14]
Satellite[]
Discovery[7] | |
---|---|
Discovered by | Marchis et al. |
Discovery date | 2006 July 16 |
Designations | |
Designation | Hektor I |
Pronunciation | /skəˈmændriəs/ |
Named after | Scamandrius |
S/2006 (624) 1 | |
Adjectives | Skamandrian |
Orbital characteristics[7] | |
623.5±10 km | |
Eccentricity | 0.31±0.03 |
2.9651±0.0003 days | |
Inclination | 50.1°±1.1° (to primary) 166.2°±3.2° (in EQJ2000) |
170.7°±6.1° (in EQJ2000) | |
113.4°±1.4° (in EQJ2000) | |
Physical characteristics | |
Mean diameter | 12±3 km (assuming composition of primary) |
A 10–15-km-diameter moon, named Skamandrios, was detected orbiting 624 Hektor in 2006 with a semi-major axis of 623.5 km and an orbital period of 2.9651 days (71.162 hours).[15][7] It was confirmed with Keck observations in November 2011,[16] and was then named on 12 March 2017.[17] No mass estimate was provided, but the equivalent volume suggests an approximate mass of 8.74×1014 kg if the two bodies are of the same density. Its orbit is highly inclined and eccentric, and it is likely that its rotation is chaotic. Marchis et al. (2014) speculate that it was ejected after a low-velocity collision produced the bilobed primary. The newly merged primary could have spun fast enough to be unstable and shed some mass.[7]
Studies[]
624 Hektor was in a 2003 study of asteroids using the Hubble FGS.[18] Asteroids studied include 63 Ausonia, 15 Eunomia, 43 Ariadne, 44 Nysa, and 624 Hektor.[18] It has since been revisited several times, particularly as a test of the upgraded resolution of the Keck Observatory's LGS Adaptive Optics system which allowed Earth-based observation of binary asteroids for the first time.[13][7] The asteroid has also been imaged by the NEOWISE and AKARI all-sky studies, which reported highly divergent size estimates of 147.4[9] and 231.0 kilometers [11] respectively, although this mostly arises from large differences in estimated albedo (approximately 0.107 for NEOWISE, and a much lower 0.034 for AKARI) rather than its absolute magnitude being measured only briefly at opposing extremes of a widely varying cycle such as thought to account for the uncertainty over the size of 1173 Anchises (624 Hektor's own abs. mag. recorded as a relatively similar 7.20 and 7.49 by the two studies). It is, unusually, not included in the published IRAS results, and is therefore the largest Jupiter trojan to be omitted from that study.
See also[]
- Asteroids in fiction § Other asteroids
References[]
- ^ Jump up to: a b c "624 Hektor (1907 XM)". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 14 June 2018.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Schmadel, Lutz D. (2007). "(624) Hektor". Dictionary of Minor Planet Names – (624) Hektor. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. p. 63. doi:10.1007/978-3-540-29925-7_625. ISBN 978-3-540-00238-3.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 624 Hektor (1907 XM)" (2018-05-25 last obs.). Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 14 June 2018.
- ^ "Asteroid 624 Hektor – Nesvorny HCM Asteroid Families V3.0". Small Bodies Data Ferret. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
- ^ "List of Jupiter Trojans". Minor Planet Center. 4 October 2017. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
- ^ Jump up to: a b "Hector". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Marchis, F.; Durech, J.; Castillo-Rogez, J.; Vachier, F.; Cuk, M.; Berthier, J.; et al. (March 2014). "The Puzzling Mutual Orbit of the Binary Trojan Asteroid (624) Hektor". The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 783 (2): 6. arXiv:1402.7336. Bibcode:2014ApJ...783L..37M. doi:10.1088/2041-8205/783/2/L37. S2CID 19868908.
- ^ Storrs, Alex; Weiss, Ben; Zellner, Ben; Burleson, Win; Sichitiu, Rukmini; Wells, Eddie; et al. (February 1999). "Imaging Observations of Asteroids with Hubble Space Telescope". Icarus. 137 (2): 260–268. Bibcode:1999Icar..137..260S. doi:10.1006/icar.1999.6047. S2CID 274199.
- ^ 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)
- ^ Jump up to: a b c Carry, B. (December 2012), "Density of asteroids", Planetary and Space Science, 73 (1): 98–118, arXiv:1203.4336, Bibcode:2012P&SS...73...98C, doi:10.1016/j.pss.2012.03.009, S2CID 119226456 See Table 1.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d Usui, Fumihiko; Kuroda, Daisuke; Müller, Thomas G.; Hasegawa, Sunao; Ishiguro, Masateru; Ootsubo, Takafumi; et al. (October 2011). "Asteroid Catalog Using Akari: AKARI/IRC Mid-Infrared Asteroid Survey". Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan. 63 (5): 1117–1138. Bibcode:2011PASJ...63.1117U. doi:10.1093/pasj/63.5.1117. (online, AcuA catalog p. 153)
- ^ Descamps, Pascal (January 2015). "Dumb-bell-shaped equilibrium figures for fiducial contact-binary asteroids and EKBOs". Icarus. 245: 64–79. arXiv:1410.7962. Bibcode:2015Icar..245...64D. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2014.08.002. S2CID 119272485.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c Franck Marchis (November 2005). "Searching and Characterizing Multiple Trojan Asteroids with LGS AO Systems" (PDF) (PDF). Retrieved 14 June 2018.
- ^ "Johnson's Archive - asteroids with satellites". Retrieved 25 October 2020.
- ^ "IAUC 8732: S/2006 (624) 1 (Satellite Discovery)". Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams. International Astronomical Union. 21 July 2006. Retrieved 14 June 2018.
- ^ @AllPlanets (11 November 2011). "Dome closed, Keck telescope is..." (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ "M.P.C. 103967" (PDF). Minor Planet Circular. Minor Planet Center. 12 March 2017. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Tanga, P.; Hestroffer, D.; Cellino, A.; Lattanzi, M.; Di Martino, M.; Zappalà, V. (April 2003). "Asteroid observations with the Hubble Space Telescope. II. Duplicity search and size measurements for 6 asteroids" (PDF). Astronomy and Astrophysics. 401 (2): 733–741. Bibcode:2003A&A...401..733T. doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20030032. Retrieved 14 June 2018.
External links[]
- Keck image of Hektor and moon (Marchis 2011-Nov-11)
- Distant Asteroid Revealed to be a Complex Mini Geological World (2014 February 27)
- Asteroids with Satellites, Robert Johnston, johnstonsarchive.net
- 624 Hektor at AstDyS-2, Asteroids—Dynamic Site
- 624 Hektor at the JPL Small-Body Database
- Minor planet object articles (numbered)
- Jupiter trojans (Greek camp)
- Hektor asteroids
- Discoveries by August Kopff
- Minor planets named from Greek mythology
- Named minor planets
- Binary asteroids
- Contact binary (small Solar System body)
- D-type asteroids (Tholen)
- Astronomical objects discovered in 1907