- Source: 34746 Thoon
34746 Thoon (provisional designation 2001 QE91) is a dark Jupiter trojan from the Trojan camp, approximately 60 kilometers (37 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 22 August 2001, by astronomers with the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research at Lincoln Lab's ETS in Socorro, New Mexico. The possibly elongated Jovian asteroid is one of the 70 largest Jupiter trojans and has a rotation period of 19.6 hours. It was named after the Trojan warrior Thoön from Greek mythology.
Orbit and classification
Thoon is a dark Jupiter trojan in a 1:1 orbital resonance with Jupiter. It is located in the trailering Trojan camp at the Gas Giant's L5 Lagrangian point, 60° behind its orbit (see Trojans in astronomy). It is also a non-family asteroid of the Jovian background population.
It orbits the Sun at a distance of 5.0–5.4 AU once every 11 years and 9 months (4,287 days; semi-major axis of 5.16 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.04 and an inclination of 27° with respect to the ecliptic. The body's observation arc begins with its first observation as 1949 KS at the Goethe Link Observatory in November 1945, almost 56 years prior to its official discovery observation at Socorro.
Numbering and naming
This minor planet was numbered on 28 January 2002 (M.P.C. 22480). On 14 May 2021, the object was named by the Working Group for Small Bodies Nomenclature (WGSBN), after Thoön, a Lycian warrior and ally of the Trojans, who was killed in battle by Odysseus during the Trojan War.
Physical characteristics
Thoon'is an assumed C-type asteroid. Its V–I color index of 0.95 is typical for most D-type asteroids, the dominant spectral type among the Jupiter trojans.
= Rotation period
=In April 2007, a rotational lightcurve of Thoon was obtained from photometric observations by Lawrence Molnar at Calvin University, using the Calvin-Rehoboth Robotic Observatory in New Mexico. Lightcurve analysis gave a well-defined rotation period of 19.633±0.002 hours with a high brightness variation of 0.56 magnitude (U=3). A high amplitude is indicative of a non-spherical shape.
= 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, Thoon measures between 61.68 and 63.63 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo between 0.061 and 0.091. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.0580 and calculates a diameter of 60.51 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 9.8.
References
External links
Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB), query form (info Archived 16 December 2017 at the Wayback Machine)
Dictionary of Minor Planet Names, Google books
Discovery Circumstances: Numbered Minor Planets (30001)-(35000) – Minor Planet Center
Asteroid (34746) 2001 QE91 at the Small Bodies Data Ferret
34746 Thoon at AstDyS-2, Asteroids—Dynamic Site
Ephemeris · Observation prediction · Orbital info · Proper elements · Observational info
34746 Thoon at the JPL Small-Body Database
Kata Kunci Pencarian:
- 34746 Thoon
- Thoön (mythology)
- List of Jupiter trojans (Trojan camp)
- Meanings of minor-planet names: 34001–35000
- List of Jupiter trojans (Greek camp)
- List of minor planets: 34001–35000
- 5119 Imbrius
- 5025 Mecisteus
- 5511 Cloanthus
- 5476 Mulius