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5335 Damocles

Centaur


Centaur

FieldValue
minorplanetyes
background#C7FF8F
name(5335) Damocles
symbol[[File:Damocles symbol (bold).svg24px]] (astrological)
discovererR. H. McNaught
discovery_siteSiding Spring Obs.
discovered18 February 1991
mpc_name(5335) Damocles
alt_names1991 DA
pronounced
named_afterDamocles (Greek mythology)
mp_categorydistant
centaurdamocloid
adjectivesDamoclean ()
orbit_ref
epoch4 September 2017 (JD 2458000.5)
uncertainty4
observation_arc1.51 yr (551 days)
aphelion22.078 AU
perihelion1.5741 AU
semimajor11.826 AU
eccentricity0.8669
period40.67 Jyr (14,854 days)
mean_anomaly236.35°
mean_motion/ day
inclination61.875°
asc_node314.14°
arg_peri191.26°
tisserand1.149
mars_moid0.05787 AU
dimensions~ 10 km
abs_magnitude13.3
magnitude26.56

centaurdamocloid

5335 Damocles , provisional designation , is a centaur and the namesake of the damocloids, a group of minor planets which may be inactive nuclei of the Halley-type and long-period comets. It was discovered on 18 February 1991, by Australian astronomer Robert McNaught at Siding Spring Observatory in Australia. It is named after Damocles, a figure of Greek mythology.

Description

When Damocles was discovered, it was found to be on an orbit completely different from all others known. Damocles's orbit reached from inside the aphelion of Mars to as far as Uranus. It seemed to be in transition from a near-circular outer Solar System orbit to an eccentric orbit taking it to the inner Solar System. Duncan Steel, Gerhard Hahn, Mark Bailey, and David Asher carried out projections of its long-term dynamical evolution, and found a good probability that it will become an Earth-crosser asteroid, and may spend a quarter of its life in such an orbit. Damocles has a stable orbit for tens of thousands of years before and after the present, because its highly inclined orbit does not take it near Jupiter or Saturn.

There is some speculation that Damocles may have a meteor shower associated with it on Mars from the direction of Draco. The object has a Mars minimum orbit intersection distance (Mars MOID) of 0.057 AU and a Uranus MOID of 0.3 AU.

, Damocles is 19.6 AU from the Sun with an apparent magnitude of 26.3. It reached its furthest point from the Sun in 2011.

The adjectival form is Damoclean, . The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 1 September 1993 (M.P.C. 22508).

References

References

  1. Webster, Noah. (1884). "A Practical Dictionary of the English Language".
  2. Oxford English Dictionary
  3. Steel, D.. (1995). "Rogue Asteroids and Doomsday Comets". Wiley & Sons.
  4. "Meteor Showers and Their Parent Bodies".
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