35 Leukothea
Main-belt asteroid
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
35 Leukothea is a large, dark asteroid from the asteroid belt. It was discovered by German astronomer Karl Theodor Robert Luther on 19 April 1855,[6] and named after Leukothea, a sea goddess in Greek mythology. Its historical symbol was a pharos (ancient lighthouse); it was encoded in Unicode 17.0 as U+1CED0 ð» (.svg){kind=small}
).[7][8]
.png) Three-dimensional model of 35 Leukothea created based on light-curve | |
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | R. Luther |
| Discovery date | 19 April 1855 |
| Designations | |
Designation | (35) Leukothea |
| Pronunciation | /ljuËËkÉθiÉ/[1] |
Named after | ÎÎµÏ ÎºÎ¿Î¸Îα Leykothea |
| 1948 DC; 1950 RS1; 1976 WH | |
| Main belt | |
| Adjectives | Leukothean /ljuËËkÉθiÉn/ |
| Symbol | .svg){kind=small} (historical) |
| Orbital characteristics[2] | |
| Epoch 21 November 2025 (JD 2461000.5) | |
| Aphelion | 3.659 AU |
| Perihelion | 2.353 AU |
| 3.006 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.217 |
| 5.211 yr (1903.34 d) | |
Average orbital speed | 17.00 km/s |
| 309.117° | |
| Inclination | 7.866° |
| 352.910° | |
| 215.440° | |
| Jupiter MOID | 1.357 AU |
| TJupiter | 3.201 |
| Physical characteristics | |
| 103.05 ± 1.2 km[3] | |
| Mass | (1.014 ± 0.491/0.321)Ã1018 kg[3] |
Mean density | 1.769 ± 0.857/0.56 g/cm3[3] |
| ~0.0513 km/s | |
| 31.900[4] h | |
| Albedo | 0.066[5] |
| Temperature | ~162 K |
Spectral type | C |
| 8.5 | |
Leukothea is a C-type asteroid in the Tholen classification system,[2] suggesting a carbonaceous composition. It is orbiting the Sun with a period of 5.17 years and has a cross-sectional size of 103.1 km.
Photometric observations of this asteroid from the Organ Mesa Observatory in Las Cruces, New Mexico during 2010 gave a light curve with a rotation period of 31.900±0.001 hours and a brightness variability of 0.42±0.04 in magnitude. This is consistent with previous studies in 1990 and 2008.[4]
The computed Lyapunov time for this asteroid is 20,000 years, indicating that it occupies a chaotic orbit that will change randomly over time because of gravitational perturbations of the planets.[9]
