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4867 Polites
Jupiter trojan from the Trojan camp From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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4867 Polites /pəˈlaɪtiːz/ is a Jupiter trojan from the Trojan camp, approximately 60 kilometers (37 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 27 September 1989, by American astronomer Carolyn Shoemaker at the Palomar Observatory in California.[1] The dark Jovian asteroid belongs to the 80 largest Jupiter trojans and has a rotation period of 11.2 hours.[9] It was named after the Trojan prince Polites from Greek mythology.[1]
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Orbit and classification
Polites is a dark Jovian asteroid 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 . It is also a non-family asteroid of the Jovian background population.[5]
It orbits the Sun at a distance of 5.1–5.3 AU once every 11 years and 9 months (4,285 days; semi-major axis of 5.16 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.02 and an inclination of 27° with respect to the ecliptic.[3] The body's observation arc begins with its first observation as 1988 RN1 at Palomar in September 1988, or one year prior to its official discovery observation.[1]
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Physical characteristics
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Polites is an assumed C-type asteroid. Its V–I color index of 1.01 is one of the highest among the larger Jupiter trojans (see table below).[9]
Rotation period
In August 2010, a rotational lightcurve of Polites was obtained from photometric observations over five nights by Linda French at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. Lightcurve analysis gave a tentative rotation period of 9.21 hours with a low brightness variation of 0.09 magnitude (U=2-).[9][12]
Follow-up observations on a yearly basis by Robert D. Stephens and Daniel Coley at the Center for Solar System Studies gave several lightcurves during 2013–2018.[10][13][14][15][a] The best-rated one from January 2016 gave a period of 11.235±0.006 hours and an amplitude of 0.15 magnitude (U=3).[9][10]
Diameter and albedo
According to the surveys carried out by the Japanese Akari satellite, the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, and the Infrared Astronomical Satellite IRAS, Polites measures between 57.25 and 65.16 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo between 0.071 and 0.078.[6][7][8] The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for a carbonaceous asteroid of 0.057 and calculates a diameter of 58.29 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 9.9.[9]
100+ largest Jupiter trojans
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Naming
This minor planet was named by the discoverer from Greek mythology after the Trojan prince Polites, son of King Priam and Hecuba. He was killed with a spear handled by Achille's son Neoptolemus (Pyrrhus), who was the most ruthless of the Greeks. During the fall of Troy, he invaded Priam's great house and chased Polites until he cornered and slaughtered him in front of his parents.[1]
The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 4 June 1993 (M.P.C. 22248).[16]
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