385695 Clete, provisional designation , is a
Neptune trojan
Neptune trojans are bodies that orbit the Sun near one of the stable Lagrangian points of Neptune, similar to the Trojan (astronomy), trojans of other planets. They therefore have approximately the same orbital period as Neptune and follow rough ...
,
co-orbital
In astronomy, a co-orbital configuration is a configuration of two or more astronomical objects (such as asteroids, moons, or planets) orbiting at the same, or very similar, distance from their primary, i.e. they are in a 1:1 mean-motion resonan ...
with the ice giant
Neptune
Neptune is the eighth planet from the Sun and the farthest known planet in the Solar System. It is the fourth-largest planet in the Solar System by diameter, the third-most-massive planet, and the densest giant planet. It is 17 times ...
, approximately in diameter.
It was named after
Clete Clete is a given name. Notable people with the name include:
*Greek mythological figures:
**Clete or Cleta, one of the Charites
** Clete (Amazon), companion of Penthesilea
*Astronomy:
** 385695 Clete, a minor planet
*People:
**Clete Blakeman (born ...
, one of the
Amazons
In Greek mythology, the Amazons (Ancient Greek: Ἀμαζόνες ''Amazónes'', singular Ἀμαζών ''Amazōn'', via Latin ''Amāzon, -ŏnis'') are portrayed in a number of ancient epic poems and legends, such as the Labours of Hercules, ...
from
Greek mythology
A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...
.
The
minor planet
According to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a minor planet is an astronomical object in direct orbit around the Sun that is exclusively classified as neither a planet nor a comet. Before 2006, the IAU officially used the term ''minor ...
was discovered on 8 October 2005, by American astronomers
Scott Sheppard and
Chad Trujillo
Chadwick A. Trujillo (born November 22, 1973) is an American astronomer, discoverer of minor planets and the co-discoverer of Eris, the most massive dwarf planet known in the Solar System.
Trujillo works with computer software and has examined ...
at
Las Campanas Observatory
Las Campanas Observatory (LCO) is an astronomical observatory owned and operated by the Carnegie Institution for Science (CIS). It is in the southern Atacama Desert of Chile in the Atacama Region approximately northeast of the city of La Serena. ...
in Chile.
23 known Neptune trojans have already been discovered.
Numbering and naming
This minor planet was named from
Greek mythology
A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...
after
Clete Clete is a given name. Notable people with the name include:
*Greek mythological figures:
**Clete or Cleta, one of the Charites
** Clete (Amazon), companion of Penthesilea
*Astronomy:
** 385695 Clete, a minor planet
*People:
**Clete Blakeman (born ...
, a member of the
Amazons
In Greek mythology, the Amazons (Ancient Greek: Ἀμαζόνες ''Amazónes'', singular Ἀμαζών ''Amazōn'', via Latin ''Amāzon, -ŏnis'') are portrayed in a number of ancient epic poems and legends, such as the Labours of Hercules, ...
, an all-female warrior tribe that fought in the
Trojan War
In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans (Greeks) after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, king of Sparta. The war is one of the most important events in Greek mythology and has ...
on the side of the Trojans against the Greek. Clete was one of the twelve followers of the Amazonian queen
Penthesilea
Penthesilea ( el, Πενθεσίλεια, Penthesíleia) was an Amazonian queen in Greek mythology, the daughter of Ares and Otrera and the sister of Hippolyta, Antiope and Melanippe. She assisted Troy in the Trojan War, during which she was ...
and went looking for her after she went missing during the war.
According to the queen's will, Clete sailed to Italy and founded the city of Clete. 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 18 May 2019 ().
The naming follows the scheme already established with
385571 Otrera, which is to name these
Neptune trojan
Neptune trojans are bodies that orbit the Sun near one of the stable Lagrangian points of Neptune, similar to the Trojan (astronomy), trojans of other planets. They therefore have approximately the same orbital period as Neptune and follow rough ...
s after figures related to the Amazons.
Orbit and classification
''Clete'' orbits near
Neptune
Neptune is the eighth planet from the Sun and the farthest known planet in the Solar System. It is the fourth-largest planet in the Solar System by diameter, the third-most-massive planet, and the densest giant planet. It is 17 times ...
'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 ...
about 60
° ahead of Neptune and thus has the about same orbital period as Neptune. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 28.5–31.6
AU once every 164 years and 9 months (60,182 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 30.06 AU). Its orbit has an
eccentricity
Eccentricity or eccentric may refer to:
* Eccentricity (behavior), odd behavior on the part of a person, as opposed to being "normal"
Mathematics, science and technology Mathematics
* Off-center, in geometry
* Eccentricity (graph theory) of a v ...
of 0.05 and an
inclination
Orbital inclination measures the tilt of an object's orbit around a celestial body. It is expressed as the angle between a Plane of reference, reference plane and the orbital plane or Axis of rotation, axis of direction of the orbiting object ...
of 5
° with respect to the
ecliptic
The ecliptic or ecliptic plane is the orbital plane of the Earth around the Sun. From the perspective of an observer on Earth, the Sun's movement around the celestial sphere over the course of a year traces out a path along the ecliptic again ...
.
The Neptune-
resonance
Resonance describes the phenomenon of increased amplitude that occurs when the frequency of an applied periodic force (or a Fourier component of it) is equal or close to a natural frequency of the system on which it acts. When an oscillatin ...
should keep it more than 19 AU from Neptune for 14,000 years.
, it is 25.5 AU from Neptune. ''Clete'' is located close to the boundary separating stable orbits from unstable ones, and it may be influenced by a secular resonance.
Physical characteristics
Diameter
The discoverers estimate that ''Clete'' has a mean-diameter of 100 kilometers based on a
magnitude
Magnitude may refer to:
Mathematics
*Euclidean vector, a quantity defined by both its magnitude and its direction
*Magnitude (mathematics), the relative size of an object
*Norm (mathematics), a term for the size or length of a vector
*Order of ...
of 23.2.
Based on a generic magnitude-to-diameter conversion, it measures approximately 97 kilometers in diameter using an
absolute magnitude
Absolute magnitude () is a measure of the luminosity of a celestial object on an inverse Logarithmic scale, logarithmic Magnitude (astronomy), astronomical magnitude scale. An object's absolute magnitude is defined to be equal to the apparent mag ...
of 8.3 with an assumed
albedo
Albedo (; ) is the measure of the diffuse reflection of sunlight, solar radiation out of the total solar radiation and measured on a scale from 0, corresponding to a black body that absorbs all incident radiation, to 1, corresponding to a body ...
of 0.09.
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clete
385695
Discoveries by Chad Trujillo
Discoveries by Scott S. Sheppard
Named minor planets
20051008