10370 Hylonome

Classification and orbit

Centaurs are a large population of icy bodies in transition between trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) and Jupiter-family comets (JFCs), their orbits being unstable due to perturbations by the giant planets. Currently, Uranus controls Hylonome's perihelion and Neptune its aphelion.

Hylonome is a carbonaceous C-type body that orbits the Sun in the outer main-belt at a distance of 18.9–31.4 astronomical units (AU) once every 126 years and 2 months (46,073 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.25 and an inclination of 4° with respect to the ecliptic. It is a Neptune-crosser, and an outer-grazer of the orbit of Uranus, which it hence does not cross. Its minimum orbital intersection distance with Neptune and Uranus is 0.35854 and 0.52875 AU, respectively.

It is estimated to have a relatively long orbital half-life of about 6.37 million years.

Naming

This minor planet was named for Hylonome, a female centaur in Greek mythology. In the epic tragedy, she lost her husband, the handsome centaur Cyllarus, who was accidentally killed by a spear. Heartbroken, she then took her own life by throwing herself on the spear. The official was published on 26 July 2000 (M.P.C. ).

A symbol derived from that for 2060 Chiron, x14px, was devised in the late 1990s by German astrologer Robert von Heeren. It replaces Chiron's K with a Greek capital upsilon (Υ) for Hylonome (Ὑλονόμη).

Physical characteristics

Observations with the infrared Spitzer Space Telescope indicate a diameter of kilometers, whereas the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for carbonaceous bodies of 0.057, giving it a diameter of 75.1 kilometers with an absolute magnitude of 9.35.

A study in 2014, using data from Spitzers Multiband Imaging Photometer (MIPS) and Herschels Photodetector Array Camera and Spectrometer, gave a low albedo of and a diameter of kilometers, based on an absolute magnitude of . The study concluded that among the observed population of centaurs, there is no correlation between their sizes, albedos, and orbital parameters. However, the smaller the centaur, the more reddish it is.

References

References

1. Noah Webster (1884) ''A Practical Dictionary of the English Language''
2. (26 August 2021). "Comment on U+26B7 CHIRON".
3. (2021). "A statistical review of light curves and the prevalence of contact binaries in the Kuiper Belt". Icarus.