3794 Sthenelos

Orbit and classification

Sthenelos 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 Lagrangian point, 60° ahead on its orbit . It is also a non-family asteroid of the Jovian background population. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 4.4–6.0 AU once every 11 years and 11 months (4,338 days; semi-major axis of 5.21 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.15 and an inclination of 6° with respect to the ecliptic.

The body's observation arc begins with its first observation as ** at Heidelberg Observatory in September 1949, or 36 years prior to its official discovery observation at Palomar.

Physical characteristics

Sthenelos is an assumed, carbonaceous C-type asteroid, while most larger Jupiter trojans are D-type asteroids. It has a high V–I color index of 1.07.

Rotation period

In August 1995, a rotational lightcurve of Sthenelos was obtained from photometric observations by Italian astronomer Stefano Mottola using the Bochum 0.61-metre Telescope at ESO's La Silla Observatory in Chile. Lightcurve analysis gave a well-defined rotation period of hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.27 magnitude ().

Diameter and albedo

According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Sthenelos measures 34.53 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.112, while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for a carbonaceous asteroid of 0.057 and calculates a diameter of 46.30 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 10.4.

Naming

This minor planet was named from Greek mythology after Sthenelus, a Greek warrior and companion of Diomedes during the Trojan War. He stole Aeneas' chariot horses and brought it back to the Greek camp. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 27 August 1988 (M.P.C. 13482).

References

References

1. Noah Webster (1884) ''A Practical Dictionary of the English Language''