2146 Stentor is a

Jupiter trojan The Jupiter trojans, commonly called trojan asteroids or simply trojans, are a large group of asteroids that share the planet Jupiter's orbit around the Sun. Relative to Jupiter, each trojan librates around one of Jupiter's stable Lagrange poin ...

from the

Greek camp This is a list of Jupiter trojans that lie in the Greek camp, an elongated curved region around the leading Lagrangian point (), 60 ° ahead of Jupiter in its orbit. All the asteroids at Jupiter's point have names corresponding to participants ...

, approximately in diameter. It was discovered on 24 October 1976, by Danish astronomer

Richard Martin West Richard Martin West (born 1941) is a Danish astronomer and discoverer of astronomical objects with a long career at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and at the International Astronomical Union (IAU). He discovered numerous comets, includi ...

at the

ESO The European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere, commonly referred to as the European Southern Observatory (ESO), is an intergovernmental research organisation made up of 16 member states for ground-based ast ...

's La Silla Observatory in Chile. The dark Jovian

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet of the inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter; they are rocky, metallic or icy bodies with no atmosphere. ...

has a

rotation period The rotation period of a celestial object (e.g., star, gas giant, planet, moon, asteroid) may refer to its sidereal rotation period, i.e. the time that the object takes to complete a single revolution around its axis of rotation relative to the ...

of 16.4 hours and belongs to the 100 largest Jupiter trojans. It was named after Stentor from Greek mythology, a Herald of the Greeks during the Trojan War.

Orbit and classification

''Stentor'' is a Jovian

orbiting in the leading Greek camp at Jupiter's

Lagrangian point In celestial mechanics, the Lagrange points (; also Lagrangian points or libration points) are points of equilibrium for small-mass objects under the influence of two massive orbiting bodies. Mathematically, this involves the solution of th ...

, 60 ° ahead of the gas giant's orbit in a 1:1 resonance . It is a non- family asteroid in the Jovian background population. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 4.7–5.7 AU once every 11 years and 10 months (4,327 days;

semi-major axis In geometry, the major axis of an ellipse is its longest diameter: a line segment that runs through the center and both foci, with ends at the two most widely separated points of the perimeter. The semi-major axis (major semiaxis) is the long ...

of 5.2 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.10 and an inclination of 39 ° with respect to the ecliptic. The body's observation arc begins with its official discovery observation at La Silla in October 1976.

Physical characteristics

''Stentor'' is an assumed C-type asteroid.

Rotation period

In June 2016, a rotational lightcurve of ''Stentor'' was obtained from photometric observations by Brian Warner at the

Center for Solar System Studies This is a list of observatory codes (IAU codes or MPC codes) published by the Minor Planet Center. For a detailed description, ''see observations of small Solar System bodies''. List References * {{DEFAULTSORT:Observat ...

(CS3) in California. Lightcurve analysis gave a

of hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.10 magnitude (). An alternative period solution (1:1.5 alias of 24.88 was also obtained. ''Stentor'' was previously observed at CS3 by Daniel Coley and

Robert Stephens Sir Robert Graham Stephens (14 July 193112 November 1995) was a leading English actor in the early years of Britain's Royal National Theatre. He was one of the most respected actors of his generation and was at one time regarded as the natur ...

in February 2013, gave an alternative period solution of hours with an amplitude of 0.09 magnitude. This approximately a 1:2 alias is now superseded by the shorter period above ().

Diameter and albedo

According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, ''Stentor'' measures 50.76 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo 0.082, while the ''Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link'' assumes a standard albedo for a carbonaceous asteroid of 0.057 and calculates a diameter of 58.29 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 9.9.

Naming

This minor planet was named from Greek mythology after Stentor, the Greek warrior and herald with a voice as loud as fifty men together. The official was published by the

Minor Planet Center The Minor Planet Center (MPC) is the official body for observing and reporting on minor planets under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Founded in 1947, it operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Function ...

on 1 July 1979 ().

Orbit and classification

Physical characteristics

Rotation period

Diameter and albedo

Naming

Notes

References

External links