11351 Leucus

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11351 Leucus
Shape model of Leucus viewed from multiple orthogonal perspectives
Discovery[1]
Discovered bySCAP
Discovery siteBeijing Xinglong Obs.
Discovery date12 October 1997
Designations
(11351) Leucus
Pronunciation/ˈljuːkəs/[2]
Named after
Leucus (Greek mythology)[1]
1997 TS25 · 1996 VP39
Jupiter trojan[1][3]
Greek[4] · background[5]
Orbital characteristics[3]
Epoch 25 February 2023 (JD 2460000.5)
Uncertainty parameter 0
Earliest precovery date25 July 1982[1]
Aphelion5.652 AU
Perihelion4.953 AU
5.302 AU
Eccentricity0.0659
12.21 yr (4,460 d)
43.784°
0° 4m 50.607s / day
Inclination11.546°
251.087°
160.955°
Jupiter MOID0.0942 AU
TJupiter2.955
Physical characteristics
Dimensions63.8 × 36.6 × 29.6 km[6]
Mean diameter
41 km (volume equivalent)[6]
445.683±0.007 h[7][3]
13° (wrt ecliptic)[7]
10° (wrt orbit)[7]
+77°[7]
208°[7]
0.037±0.001[6]
D[8]
B–V = 0.739±0.044[9]
V–R = 0.498±0.044[9]
V–I = 0.900±0.057[9]
10.979±0.037[7]

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 flyby in April 2028.[8][10] The assumed D-type asteroid is an exceptionally slow rotator with a rotation period of 466 hours.[3] 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[edit]

Leucus is a dark Jupiter trojan 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.[5]

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.[3] 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]

Exploration[edit]

Lucy mission target[edit]

Leucus is planned to be visited by the Lucy spacecraft, which launched in 2021. The flyby is scheduled for 18 April 2028, and will approach the asteroid to a distance of 1,000 km (620 mi) at a relative velocity of 5.9 km/s (13,000 mph).[8]

Physical characteristics[edit]

Silhouettes of Leucus observed in occultation events from 2017–2019, each with a shape model overlaid to fit the chords.

Leucus is a D-type asteroid,[8] which is the dominant spectral type among the Jupiter trojans, with the remainder being mostly carbonaceous C-type and primitive P-type asteroids.

Slow rotator[edit]

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.[11] 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.[12]

Diameter and albedo[edit]

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.[13][14] 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.[15]

Naming[edit]

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.[16] The approved naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 22 February 2016 (M.P.C. 98711).[17]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g "11351 Leucus (1997 TS25)". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
  2. ^ Noah Webster (1884) A Practical Dictionary of the English Language
  3. ^ a b c d e "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 11351 Leucus (1997 TS25)" (2017-06-07 last obs.). Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
  4. ^ "List of Jupiter Trojans". Minor Planet Center. 1 June 2018. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
  5. ^ a b "Asteroid (11351) Leucus – Proper Elements". AstDyS-2, Asteroids – Dynamic Site. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
  6. ^ a b c Buie, Marc W.; Keeney, Brian A.; Strauss, Ryder A.; Blank, Ted E.; Moore, John G.; Porter, Simon B. (October 2021). "Size and Shape of (11351) Leucus from Five Occultations". The Planetary Science Journal. 2 (5): 38. Bibcode:2021PSJ.....2..202B. doi:10.3847/PSJ/ac1f9b. S2CID 237623594. 202.
  7. ^ a b c d e f Mottola, Stefano; Hellmich, Stephan; Buie, Marc W.; Zangari, Amanda M.; Marchi, Simone; Brown, Michael E.; Levison, Harold F. (December 2020). "Convex Shape and Rotation Model of Lucy Target (11351) Leucus from Lightcurves and Occultations". The Planetary Science Journal. 1 (3): 14. arXiv:2009.08951. Bibcode:2020PSJ.....1...73M. doi:10.3847/PSJ/abb942. S2CID 221802440. 73.
  8. ^ 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.
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ Casey Dreier; Emily Lakdawalla (30 September 2015). "NASA announces five Discovery proposals selected for further study". The Planetary Society. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  11. ^ 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.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  12. ^ 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.
  13. ^ 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)
  14. ^ 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.
  15. ^ "LCDB Data for (11351) Leucus". Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB). Retrieved 22 June 2018.
  16. ^ Homer, Iliad, 4. 491
  17. ^ "MPC/MPO/MPS Archive". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 22 June 2018.

External links[edit]

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