617 Patroclus
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | August Kopff |
| Discovery date | 17 October 1906 |
| Designations | |
|
Named after
|
Patroclus |
| 1906 VY; 1941 XC; 1962 NB |
|
| Jupiter trojan | |
| Adjectives | Patroclean |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Epoch 31 July 2016 (JD 2457600.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 109.49 yr (39991 d) |
| Aphelion | 5.9400011 AU (888.61152 Gm) |
| Perihelion | 4.4947726 AU (672.40841 Gm) |
| 5.2173868 AU (780.50996 Gm) | |
| Eccentricity | 0.1385012 |
| 11.92 yr (4352.89 d) | |
| 120.37132° | |
| 0° 4m 57.733s / day | |
| Inclination | 22.047388° |
| 44.356808° | |
| 308.44400° | |
| Earth MOID | 3.54052 AU (529.654 Gm) |
| Jupiter MOID | 0.199741 AU (29.8808 Gm) |
| Jupiter Tisserand parameter | 2.836 |
| Physical characteristics | |
|
Mean radius
|
70.46±2.35 km 71.57 ± 4.185 km |
| Mass | (1.36 ± 0.11) × 1018 kg |
|
Mean density
|
0.88 ± 0.17 g/cm3 |
| 102.8 h (4.28 d) | |
| 0.0471±0.003 | |
| Temperature | 110 K |
| P-type | |
| 8.19 | |
617 Patroclus (/pəˈtroʊkləs/ pə-TROH-kləs) is a binary minor planet made up of two objects of similar size orbiting their barycenter. It is a Jupiter trojan. It was discovered in 1906 by August Kopff, and was the second trojan to be discovered. Its binary nature was discovered in 2001; the name Patroclus now refers to the larger of the two components, whereas its slightly smaller companion body has been named Menoetius (/mᵻˈniːʃəs/ mə-NEE-shəs, official designation (617) Patroclus I Menoetius). Recent evidence suggests that the objects are icy like comets, rather than rocky like most asteroids.
Patroclus orbits in Jupiter's trailing Lagrangian point, L5, in an area called the 'Trojan node' after one of the sides in the legendary Trojan War (the other node, at the L4 point, is called the 'Greek node'). Patroclus is the only object in the Trojan camp to be named after a Greek character; the naming conventions for the Jupiter trojans were not adopted until after Patroclus was named (similarly, the asteroid Hektor is the only Trojan character to appear in the Greek camp).
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