1647 Menelaus
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | S. B. Nicholson |
| Discovery site | Mount Wilson Obs. |
| Discovery date | 23 June 1957 |
| Designations | |
| MPC designation | 1647 Menelaus |
| Pronunciation | mɛnəˈleɪəs (men-ə-lay-əs) |
|
Named after
|
Menelaus (Greek mythology) |
| 1957 MK | |
|
Jupiter trojan (Greek camp) |
|
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Epoch 16 February 2017 (JD 2457800.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 64.60 yr (23,594 days) |
| Aphelion | 5.3287 AU |
| Perihelion | 5.0995 AU |
| 5.2141 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.0220 |
| 11.91 yr (4,349 days) | |
| 67.564° | |
| 0° 4m 58.08s / day | |
| Inclination | 5.6506° |
| 240.32° | |
| 299.39° | |
| Jupiter MOID | 0.1584 AU |
| Jupiter Tisserand parameter | 2.9900 |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 42.23 km (calculated) 42.716±0.517 km |
|
17.7390±0.0198 h (R) 17.74±0.01 h |
|
|
0.056±0.009 0.057 (assumed) |
|
| C | |
| 10.451±0.004 (R) · 10.6 · 10.72±0.21 | |
1647 Menelaus (MEN-ə-LAY-əs), provisional designation 1957 MK, is a carbonaceous Jupiter trojan from the Greek camp, approximately 42 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 23 June 1957, by American astronomer Seth Nicholson at Mount Wilson Observatory in California, United States. It is named after Menelaus from Greek mythology.
Menelaus is a C-type asteroid, that orbits in the leading Greek camp at Jupiter's L4 Lagrangian point, 60° ahead of its orbit (see Trojans in astronomy). It orbits the Sun at a distance of 5.1–5.3 AU once every 11 years and 11 months (4,349 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.02 and an inclination of 6° with respect to the ecliptic.Menelaus was first imaged at Palomar Observatory in 1951. This precovery extends the body's observation arc by 6 years prior to its official discovery observation.
The Palomar Transient Factory in California obtained a rotational light-curve of Menelaus from photometric observation taken in October 2010. It gave a rotation period of 17.7390 hours with a brightness variation of 0.32 magnitude in the R-band (U=2). In February 2014, a concurring period of 17.74 hours with an amplitude of 0.15 magnitude was obtained by American astronomer Robert D. Stephens at the Center for Solar System Studies (U=3-).
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