Discovery
''Lycomedes'' was discovered on 26 September 1960, by Dutch astronomer couple Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld, Ingrid and Cornelis van Houten at Leiden, on photographic plates taken by astronomer Tom Gehrels at the Palomar Observatory in California. The body's observation arc begins the night after its official discovery observation at Palomar.Palomar–Leiden survey
The survey designation "P-L" stands for "Palomar–Leiden", named after Palomar and Leiden Observatory, Leiden observatories, which collaborated on the fruitful Palomar–Leiden survey in the 1960s. Gehrels used Palomar's Samuel Oschin telescope (also known as the 48-inch Schmidt Telescope), and shipped the photographic plates to Ingrid and Cornelis van Houten at Leiden Observatory where astrometry was carried out. The trio are credited with the discovery of :Discoveries by the Palomar–Leiden survey, several thousand asteroids.Naming
This minor planet was named from Greek mythology after Lycomedes, the Greek king of Scyros. At the request of Thetis, he concealed her son Achilles dressed in girl's clothes among his own daughters to save him from the Trojan War until Odysseus drew him out of his disguise. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 2 April 1999 ().Orbit and classification
As all Jupiter trojans, ''Lycomedes'' is in a 1:1 orbital resonance with Jupiter. It is located in the leading Greek camp at the Gas Giant's Lagrangian point, 60degree (angle), ° ahead on its orbit . It orbits the Sun at a distance of 4.9–5.3 Astronomical unit, AU once every 11 years and 6 months (4,206 days; semi-major axis of 5.1 AU). Its orbit has an orbital eccentricity, eccentricity of 0.04 and an orbital inclination, inclination of 5Degree (angle), ° with respect to the ecliptic.Physical characteristics
''Lycomedes'' is an assumed C-type asteroid, while most larger Jupiter trojans are D-type asteroid, D-types.Rotation period
In October 2010, a first rotational lightcurve of ''Lycomedes'' was obtained from Photometry (astronomy), photometric observations by astronomers at the Palomar Transient Factory in California. Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period of hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.38 Magnitude (astronomy), magnitude (). In November 2011, follow-up observations over two consecutive nights were made by Daniel Coley at the Goat Mountain Astronomical Research Station in California. It gave a concurring rotation period of hours with a high brightness amplitude of 0.55 Magnitude (astronomy), magnitude, indicative of a non-spherical shape ().Diameter and albedo
According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, ''Lycomedes'' measures between 31.736 and 31.74 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an astronomical albedo, albedo, while the ''Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link'' assumes a standard albedo for a carbonaceous asteroid of 0.057 and calculates a diameter of 40.33 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 10.7.Notes
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