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12714 Alkimos
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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12714 Alkimos /ˈælkɪmɒs/ is a large Jupiter trojan from the Greek camp, approximately 54 kilometers (34 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 15 April 1991, by American astronomer couple Carolyn and Eugene Shoemaker at the Palomar Observatory in California.[1] The dark Jovian asteroid has a rotation period of 28.5 hours.[10] It was named from Greek mythology after Alcimus, son of Ares and companion of Achilles.[1]
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Orbit and classification
Alkimos is a dark Jovian asteroid in a 1:1 orbital resonance with Jupiter. It is located in the leading Greek camp at the Gas Giant's L4 Lagrangian point, 60° ahead of its orbit . It is also a non-family asteroid in the Jovian background population.[5]
It orbits the Sun at a distance of 5.0–5.4 AU once every 12 years (4,370 days; semi-major axis of 5.23 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.04 and an inclination of 10° with respect to the ecliptic.[3] The body's observation arc begins with its first observation at the La Silla Observatory in February 1990, or 14 months prior to its official discovery observation at Palomar.[1]
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Physical characteristics
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Alkimos is an assumed C-type asteroid, while larger Jupiter trojans are D-types.[10]
Rotation period
In January 2012, a rotational lightcurve of Alkimos was obtained from photometric observations by Robert Stephens at GMARS (G79) in California. Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period of 28.48±0.01 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.27 magnitude (U=3-).[10][9]
Diameter and albedo
According to the surveys carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, the Japanese Akari satellite and the Infrared Astronomical Satellite IRAS, Alkimos measures between 47.82 and 61.04 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo between 0.036 and 0.070.[6][7][8] The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link derives an albedo of 0.0431 and a diameter of 61.13 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 10.1.[10]
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Naming
This minor planet was named from Greek mythology after the hero Alcimus, son of Ares. After Patroclus had died, he and Automedon were the two most favored by Achilles.[1] The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 13 October 2000 (M.P.C. 41386).[11]
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