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4902 Thessandrus

Trojan asteroid

Field	Value
minorplanet	yes
name	4902 Thessandrus
background	#C2FFFF
discovery_ref
discoverer	C. Shoemaker
discovery_site	Palomar Obs.
discovered	9 January 1989
mpc_name	(4902) Thessandrus
alt_names
adjective	Thessandrian
pronounced
named_after	Thessander
(Greek mythology)
mp_category	Jupiter trojan
Greekbackground
orbit_ref
epoch	23 March 2018 (JD 2458200.5)
uncertainty	0
observation_arc	64.23 yr (23,459 d)
aphelion	5.4234 AU
perihelion	4.9858 AU
semimajor	5.2046 AU
eccentricity	0.0420
period	11.87 yr (4,337 d)
mean_anomaly	204.25°
mean_motion	/ day
inclination	9.0728°
asc_node	170.29°
arg_peri	270.62°
jupiter_moid	0.1982 AU
tisserand	2.9730
mean_diameter
61.04 km (calculated)

rotation
albedo	(assumed)

spectral_type	D (Pan-STARRS)
D (SDSS-MOC)
V–I
abs_magnitude	9.60
9.8

(Greek mythology) Greekbackground 61.04 km (calculated)

D (SDSS-MOC) V–I
9.8

4902 Thessandrus is a Jupiter trojan from the Greek camp, approximately 60 km in diameter. It was discovered on 9 January 1989, by American astronomer Carolyn Shoemaker at the Palomar Observatory in California, and later named after Thessander (Thessandrus) from Greek mythology. The dark D-type asteroid is an exceptionally slow rotator and tumbler. It belongs to the 70 largest Jupiter trojans.

Orbit and classification

Thessandrus is a dark Jovian asteroid orbiting in the leading Greek camp at Jupiter's Lagrangian point, 60° ahead of the Gas Giant's orbit in a 1:1 resonance . It is also a non-family asteroid in the Jovian background population.

It orbits the Sun at a distance of 5.0–5.4 AU once every 11 years and 10 months (4,337 days; semi-major axis of 5.2 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.04 and an inclination of 9° with respect to the ecliptic.

A first precovery was taken at the discovering observatory in 1954, extending the body's observation arc by 35 years prior to its official discovery observation.

Physical characteristics

Thessandrus has been characterized as a D-type asteroid by Pan-STARRS' survey. It is also a D-type in the SDSS-based taxonomy.

Slow rotator

In February 2013, a rotational lightcurve of Thessandrus was obtained from photometric observations by American astronomer Robert Stephens at the Center for Solar System Studies in California. It gave an exceptionally long rotation period of hours with a brightness variation of 0.60 in magnitude (). It belongs to the slowest rotators known to exist.

Tumbler

The astronomers also detected a non-principal axis rotation seen in distinct rotational cycles in successive order. This is commonly known as tumbling. Thessandrus is the fourth-largest asteroid and largest Jupiter trojan known to be is such a state (also see List of tumblers).

Diameter and albedo

According to the surveys carried out by the Japanese Akari satellite and the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Thessandrus measures between 51.26 and 71.79 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo between 0.060 and 0.081.

The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo of a carbonaceous asteroid of 0.057 and calculates a diameter of 61.04 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 9.8.

Naming

This minor planet is named after Thessander (Thessandrus) from Greek mythology and Homer's Iliad. Together with 30 other Greek soldiers he hid in the Trojan horse's belly. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 4 June 1993 (M.P.C. 22248).

References

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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