4068 Menestheus is a dark

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 19 September 1973, by Dutch astronomers Ingrid and Cornelis van Houten at Leiden, on photographic plates taken by

Tom Gehrels Anton M.J. "Tom" Gehrels (February 21, 1925 – July 11, 2011) was a Dutch–American astronomer, Professor of Planetary Sciences, and Astronomer at the University of Arizona, Tucson. Biography Youth and education Gehrels was born at Haa ...

at the

Palomar Observatory Palomar Observatory is an astronomical research observatory in San Diego County, California, United States, in the Palomar Mountain Range. It is owned and operated by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Research time at the observat ...

in California, United States. The

D-type asteroid D-type asteroids have a very low albedo and a featureless reddish Asteroid spectral types, spectrum. It has been suggested that they have a composition of organic-rich silicates, carbon and anhydrous silicates, possibly with water ice in their inte ...

belongs to the 60 largest Jupiter trojans and 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 14.4 hours. It was named after the Athen leader Menestheus from Greek mythology.

Orbit and classification

''Menestheus'' is a 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. ...

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 ''(see Trojans in astronomy)''. It is also a non- family asteroid in the Jovian background population. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 4.8–5.5 AU once every 11 years and 8 months (4,266 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 5.15 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.07 and an inclination of 18 ° with respect to the ecliptic. The body's observation arc begins with its official discovery observation at Palomar in September 1973.

Palomar–Leiden Trojan survey

While the discovery date aligns with the second Palomar–Leiden Trojan survey, ''Menestheus'' has not received a prefixed

survey designation Provisional designation in astronomy is the naming convention applied to astronomical objects immediately following their discovery. The provisional designation is usually superseded by a permanent designation once a reliable orbit has been calcu ...

, which was assigned for the discoveries made by the fruitful collaboration between the Palomar and Leiden observatories in the 1960s and 1970s. Gehrels used Palomar's Samuel Oschin telescope (also known as the 48-inch Schmidt Telescope), and shipped the

photographic plate Photographic plates preceded photographic film as a capture medium in photography, and were still used in some communities up until the late 20th century. The light-sensitive emulsion of silver salts was coated on a glass plate, typically thinn ...

s to Ingrid and Cornelis van Houten at Leiden Observatory where

astrometry Astrometry is a branch of astronomy that involves precise measurements of the positions and movements of stars and other celestial bodies. It provides the kinematics and physical origin of the Solar System and this galaxy, the Milky Way. His ...

was carried out. The trio is credited with the discovery of several thousand asteroids.

Physical characteristics

In both the Tholen- and SMASS-like taxonomy of the

Small Solar System Objects Spectroscopic Survey An asteroid spectral type is assigned to asteroids based on their emission spectrum, color, and sometimes albedo. These types are thought to correspond to an asteroid's surface composition. For small bodies that are not internally differentiated ...

(S3OS2), ''Menestheus'' is a dark

. It has also been generically assumed to be a carbonaceous C-type asteroid.

Rotation period

Between January 2013, and July 2017, four rotational lightcurves of ''Menestheus'' have been obtained from photometric observations by

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 ...

, Daniel Coley and Brian Warner at the Center for Solar System Studies in collaboration with Linda French, Lawrence Wasserman and other astronomers. Analysis of the best-rated lightcurve gave a

of 14.40 hours with a consolidated brightness amplitude between 0.18 and 0.40 magnitude ().

Diameter and albedo

According to the surveys carried out by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite IRAS, the Japanese Akari satellite and the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, ''Menestheus'' measures between 67.625 and 68.46 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo between 0.061 and 0.069. The ''Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link'' derives an albedo of 0.0722 and a diameter of 62.28 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 9.5.

Naming

This minor planet was named in Greek mythology after Menestheus, the commander of the Greek contingent from Athens during the Trojan War. The official naming citation 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 11 March 1990 ().

Notes

References

External links

Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB)
query form

)
Dictionary of Minor Planet Names
Google books

– Minor Planet Center * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Menestheus 004068 Discoveries by Cornelis Johannes van Houten Discoveries by Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld Discoveries by Tom Gehrels Named minor planets 19730919