36 Atalante

36 Atalante is a large, dark main-belt asteroid. It was discovered by the German-French astronomer H. Goldschmidt on October 5, 1855, and named by French mathematician Urbain Le Verrier after the Greek mythological heroine Atalanta (of which Atalante is the French and German form, pronounced nearly the same as 'Atalanta' in English).^[7] It was rendered 'Atalanta' in English sources in the 19th century.^[3] This asteroid is classified as C-type (carbonaceous), according to the Tholen classification system.^[1]

36 Atalante

Three-dimensional model of 36 Atalante created based on light-curve
Discovery[1]
Discovered by	H. Goldschmidt
Discovery date	October 5, 1855
Designations
Designation	(36) Atalante
Pronunciation	/ætəˈlæntə/ for Atalanta, /ætəˈlæntiː/ for Atalante[2][a]
Named after	Atalanta
Alternative names	A901 SB; A912 HC Atalanta[3]
Minor planet category	Main belt
Adjectives	Atalantean /ˌætəlænˈtiːən/[4]
Orbital characteristics
Epoch December 31, 2006 (JD 2454100.5)
Aphelion	535.625 Gm (3.580 AU)
Perihelion	286.217 Gm (1.913 AU)
Semi-major axis	410.921 Gm (2.747 AU)
Eccentricity	0.303
Orbital period (sidereal)	1662.831 d (4.55 a)
Average orbital speed	17.55 km/s
Mean anomaly	47.005°
Inclination	18.432°
Longitude of ascending node	358.472°
Argument of perihelion	47.132°
Physical characteristics
Mean diameter	132.842 ± 29.191 km[1] 110.14 ± 4.38 km[5]
Mass	(9.57 ± 4.32/3.15)×1017 kg[6]
Mean density	1.672 ± 0.755/0.551 g/cm3[6][b]
Surface gravity	~0.0241 m/s²
Escape velocity	~0.0498 km/s
Synodic rotation period	0.414 d (9.93 h)[1]
Albedo	0.029[1]
Temperature	~170 K
Spectral type	C[1]
Absolute magnitude (H)	8.59[1]

Observation of the asteroid light curve indicates it is rotating with a period of 9.93 ± 0.01 hours. During this interval, the magnitude varies by an amplitude of 0.12 ± 0.02.^[8] By combining the results of multiple light curves, the approximate ellipsoidal shape of the object can be estimated. It appears to be slightly elongated, being about 28.2% longer along one axis compared to the other two.^[9] Atalante was observed by Arecibo radar in October 2010.^[10][11]

This asteroid shares a mean-motion resonance with the planets Jupiter and Saturn. The computed Lyapunov time for this asteroid is only 4,000 years, indicating that it occupies a highly chaotic orbit that will change randomly over time because of gravitational perturbations of the planets. This is the shortest Lyapunov time of the first 100 named asteroids.^[12]

Notes

1. The /ætəˈlæntiː/ pronunciation is for the Greek form Ἀταλάντη; however, the name Atalante here is actually the German form of the Latin Atalanta, with the German final -e being a schwa much like an English final -a – and indeed, 'Atalanta' is given as the English form in Craig (1869).^[3]
2. Assuming a diameter of 103 ± 11.451 km.