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4836 Medon

Trojan asteroid

Field	Value
minorplanet	yes
name	4836 Medon
background	#C2FFFF
discovery_ref
discoverer	C. Shoemaker
discovery_site	Palomar Obs.
discovered	2 February 1989
mpc_name	(4836) Medon
alt_names	1986 XM
adjective	Medontian
pronounced
named_after	Medon (Greek mythology)
mp_category	Jupiter trojan
Greekbackground
orbit_ref
epoch	23 March 2018 (JD 2458200.5)
uncertainty	0
observation_arc	30.91 yr (11,289 d)
aphelion	5.7686 AU
perihelion	4.6436 AU
semimajor	5.2061 AU
eccentricity	0.1080
period	11.88 yr (4,339 d)
mean_anomaly	185.15°
mean_motion	/ day
inclination	19.400°
asc_node	82.050°
arg_peri	34.752°
jupiter_moid	0.322 AU
tisserand	2.8750
mean_diameter

rotation

albedo

spectral_type	C (assumed)
V–I
abs_magnitude
9.50

Greekbackground

V–I
9.50

4836 Medon is a large Jupiter trojan from the Greek camp, approximately 68 km in diameter. It was discovered on 2 February 1989, by American astronomer Carolyn Shoemaker at the Palomar Observatory in California. The dark asteroid has a rotation period of 9.82 hours and belongs to the 60 largest Jupiter trojans. It was named after the mythological Greek warrior Medon.

Orbit and classification

Medon is a Jovian asteroid orbiting in the leading Greek camp at Jupiter's Lagrangian point, 60° ahead of the planet's orbit in a 1:1 resonance (see Trojans in astronomy). It is a non-family asteroid in the Jovian background population.

It orbits the Sun at a distance of 4.6–5.8 AU once every 11 years and 11 months (4,339 days; semi-major axis of 5.21 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.11 and an inclination of 19° with respect to the ecliptic. The body's observation arc begins with its first observation as ** at Anderson Mesa Station in December 1986, or 26 months prior to its official discovery observation at Palomar.

Naming

This minor planet was named by the discoverer after Medon (Phylace's Medon), the illegitimate son of Oileus and half-brother of Ajax the Lesser. Medon was exiled for having killed a relative of his stepmother Eriopis. In the Trojan War, he was killed by Aeneas before the Greek ships.

The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 25 August 1991 (M.P.C. 18648).

Physical characteristics

Medon is a generically assumed C-type asteroid. Many if not most Jupiter trojans possess an even darker D or P-type spectrum.

Rotation period

In May 1991, observations by Stefano Mottola using the now decommissioned ESO 1-metre telescope at ESO's La Silla Observatory in Chile gave a rotation period of 9.838 hours at an amplitude of 0.24 magnitude (). Follow-up observations were made in 1992 and 2009 – in order to rule out any alternative period solutions, as the irregular lightcurve showed additional maxima and minima – gave a concurring period of 9.840 hours with a brightness variation of 0.31 magnitude ().

In April 2014, another rotational lightcurve was obtained by Robert Stephens and Daniel Coley at the Center for Solar System Studies in California in collaboration with Linda French from Illinois Wesleyan University. Lightcurve analysis gave a well-defined rotation period of 9.818 hours with an amplitude of 0.27 magnitude ().

Diameter and albedo

According to the surveys carried out by the Japanese Akari satellite, the Infrared Astronomical Satellite IRAS, and the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Medon measures between 63.28 and 78.70 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo between 0.045 and 0.070. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link adopts the results obtained by IRAS, that is, an albedo of 0.061 and a diameter of 67.73 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 9.5.

Notes

References

{{dict.com. Medon

Info: Wikipedia Source

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