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5025 Mecisteus

Asteroid in the orbit of Jupiter

Field	Value
minorplanet	yes
name	5025 Mecisteus
background	#C2FFFF
image	(5025) 1986 TS6 Hubble.jpg
caption	Hubble Space Telescope image of Mecisteus taken in 2013
discovery_ref
discoverer	M. Antal
discovery_site	Toruń–Piwnice
discovered	5 October 1986
mpc_name	(5025) Mecisteus
alt_names	1989 BX
named_after	Mecisteus
(Greek mythology)
mp_category	Jupiter trojan
Greekbackground
orbit_ref
epoch	23 March 2018 (JD 2458200.5)
uncertainty	0
observation_arc	31.64 yr (11,555 d)
aphelion	5.5876 AU
perihelion	4.8117 AU
semimajor	5.1996 AU
eccentricity	0.0746
period	11.86 yr (4,331 d)
mean_anomaly	221.74°
mean_motion	/ day
inclination	11.021°
asc_node	347.79°
arg_peri	72.958°
jupiter_moid	0.1039 AU
tisserand	2.9580
mean_diameter
57.56 km (derived)

rotation
albedo	(derived)

spectral_type	C/X (Pan-STARRS)
C/X (SDSS-MOC)
V–I
abs_magnitude	9.8
10.3

(Greek mythology) Greekbackground 57.56 km (derived)

C/X (SDSS-MOC) V–I
10.3

5025 Mecisteus, provisional designation: , is a larger Jupiter trojan from the Greek camp, approximately 50 km in diameter. The unusual C/X-type Jovian asteroid is possibly a slow rotator with a rotation period of 250 hours. It was discovered on 5 October 1986 by Slovak astronomer Milan Antal at the Toruń Centre for Astronomy in Piwnice, Poland. In 2021, it was named from Greek mythology after the Greek hero Mecisteus who fought in the Trojan War.

Orbit and classification

Mecisteus is a Jupiter trojan which stays in a 1:1 orbital resonance with Jupiter. It is located in the leading Greek camp at its Lagrangian point, 60° ahead on its orbit .

It orbits the Sun at a distance of 4.8–5.6 AU once every 11 years and 10 months (4,331 days; semi-major axis of 5.2 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.07 and an inclination of 11° with respect to the ecliptic. The body's observation arc begins with its official discovery observation at Piwnice in October 1986.

Numbering and naming

This minor planet was numbered by the Minor Planet Center on 19 January 1992 (M.P.C. 19489). On 29 November 2021, IAU's Working Group for Small Bodies Nomenclature it after Mecisteus, from Greek mythology. Mecisteus was an Achaean warrior during the Trojan War who was killed by the Trojan Polydamas.

Physical characteristics

Mecisteus is an unusual C-/X-type according to Pan-STARRS survey and the SDSS-based taxonomy, and has a V–I color index of 0.830.

Rotation period

In November 2009, Stefano Mottola at the Calar Alto Observatory observed Mecisteus in a photometric survey of 80 Jupiter trojans. The obtained lightcurve rendered a very long rotation period of hours with a brightness variation of in magnitude (). However, the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link (CALL) considers the result as incorrect. As of 2018, no secure period has been obtained.

Diameter and albedo

According to the surveys carried out by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) and the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Mecisteus measures 39.84 and 57.83 kilometers in diameter with an albedo of 0.084 and 0.064, respectively. CALL agrees with the results obtained by IRAS, assumes an even lower albedo of 0.0404, and calculates a similar diameter of 57.56 kilometers.

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.

jupiter-trojans-(greek-camp) discoveries-by-milan-antal named-minor-planets astronomical-objects-discovered-in-1986

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