Summary
Leukothea (minor planet designation: 35 Leukothea) is a large, dark asteroid from the asteroid belt. It was discovered by German astronomer Karl Theodor Robert Luther on April 19, 1855,[6] and named after Leukothea, a sea goddess in Greek mythology. Its historical symbol was a pharos (ancient lighthouse); it is in the pipeline for Unicode 17.0 as U+1CED0 (
).[7][8]
 Three-dimensional model of 35 Leukothea created based on light-curve | |
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | R. Luther |
| Discovery date | April 19, 1855 |
| Designations | |
Designation | (35) Leukothea |
| Pronunciation | /ljuːˈkɒθiə/[1] |
Named after | Λευκοθέα Leykothea |
| 1948 DC; 1950 RS1; 1976 WH | |
| Main belt | |
| Adjectives | Leukothean /ljuːˈkɒθiən/ |
| Symbol |  (historical) |
| Orbital characteristics[2] | |
| Epoch December 31, 2006 (JD 2454100.5) | |
| Aphelion | 549.374 Gm (3.672 AU) |
| Perihelion | 345.074 Gm (2.307 AU) |
| 447.224 Gm (2.990 AU) | |
| Eccentricity | 0.228 |
| 1,887.983 d (5.17 a) | |
Average orbital speed | 17.00 km/s |
| 77.469° | |
| Inclination | 7.938° |
| 353.817° | |
| 213.962° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
Mean diameter | 103.05 ± 1.2 km[3] |
| Mass | (1.014 ± 0.491/0.321)×1018 kg[3] |
Mean density | 1.769 ± 0.857/0.56 g/cm3[3] |
| ~0.0513 km/s | |
| 31.900[4] h | |
| Albedo | 0.066[5] |
| Temperature | ~162 K |
Spectral type | C |
| 8.5 | |
Leukothea is a C-type asteroid in the Tholen classification system,[2] suggesting a carbonaceous composition. It is orbiting the Sun with a period of 5.17 years and has a cross-sectional size of 103.1 km.
Photometric observations of this asteroid from the Organ Mesa Observatory in Las Cruces, New Mexico during 2010 gave a light curve with a rotation period of 31.900±0.001 hours and a brightness variability of 0.42±0.04 in magnitude. This is consistent with previous studies in 1990 and 2008.[4]
The computed Lyapunov time for this asteroid is 20,000 years, indicating that it occupies a chaotic orbit that will change randomly over time because of gravitational perturbations of the planets.[9]
References edit
- ^ "Leukothea". Dictionary.com Unabridged (Online). n.d.
- ^ a b Yeomans, Donald K., "35 Leukothea", JPL Small-Body Database Browser, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, retrieved 7 April 2013.
- ^ a b c Fienga, A.; Avdellidou, C.; Hanuš, J. (February 2020). "Asteroid masses obtained with INPOP planetary ephemerides". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 492 (1). doi:10.1093/mnras/stz3407.
- ^ a b Pilcher, Frederick (July 2010), "Period Determinations for 11 Parthenope, 35 Leukothea, 38 Leda, 111 Ate, 194 Prokne, 262 Valda, 728 Leonisis, and 747 Winchester", The Minor Planet Bulletin, vol. 37, no. 3, pp. 119–122, Bibcode:2010MPBu...37..119P.
- ^ Asteroid Data Archive, Planetary Science Institute, archived from the original on 23 May 2006, retrieved 3 November 2008.
- ^ "Numbered Minor Planets 1–5000", Discovery Circumstances, IAU Minor Planet center, retrieved 7 April 2013.
- ^ Bala, Gavin Jared; Miller, Kirk (18 September 2023). "Unicode request for historical asteroid symbols" (PDF). unicode.org. Unicode. Retrieved 26 September 2023.
- ^ Unicode. "Proposed New Characters: The Pipeline". unicode.org. The Unicode Consortium. Retrieved 6 November 2023.
- ^ Šidlichovský, M. (1999), Svoren, J.; Pittich, E. M.; Rickman, H. (eds.), "Resonances and chaos in the asteroid belt", Evolution and source regions of asteroids and comets : proceedings of the 173rd colloquium of the International Astronomical Union, held in Tatranska Lomnica, Slovak Republic, August 24–28, 1998, pp. 297–308, Bibcode:1999esra.conf..297S.
External links edit
- 35 Leukothea at AstDyS-2, Asteroids—Dynamic Site
- Ephemeris · Observation prediction · Orbital info · Proper elements · Observational info
- 35 Leukothea at the JPL Small-Body Database
