36 Atalante
Main-belt asteroid
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
36 Atalante is a large, dark main-belt asteroid. It was discovered by the German-French astronomer H. Goldschmidt on October 5, 1855, and named by French mathematician Urbain Le Verrier after the Greek mythological heroine Atalanta (of which Atalante is the French and German form, pronounced nearly the same as 'Atalanta' in English).[7] It was rendered 'Atalanta' in English sources in the 19th century.[3] This asteroid is classified as C-type (carbonaceous), according to the Tholen classification system.[1]
.png)
Three-dimensional model of 36 Atalante created based on light-curve | |
| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | H. Goldschmidt |
| Discovery date | October 5, 1855 |
| Designations | |
Designation | (36) Atalante |
| Pronunciation | /ætÉËlæntÉ/ for Atalanta, /ætÉËlæntiË/ for Atalante[2][a] |
Named after | Atalanta |
| A901 SB; A912 HC Atalanta[3] | |
| Main belt | |
| Adjectives | Atalantean /ËætÉlænËtiËÉn/[4] |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Epoch December 31, 2006 (JD 2454100.5) | |
| Aphelion | 535.625 million km (3.580 AU) |
| Perihelion | 286.217 million km (1.913 AU) |
| 410.921 million km (2.747 AU) | |
| Eccentricity | 0.303 |
| 1662.831 d (4.55 a) | |
Average orbital speed | 17.55 km/s |
| 47.005° | |
| Inclination | 18.432° |
| 358.472° | |
| 47.132° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| 132.842 ± 29.191 km[1] 110.14 ± 4.38 km[5] | |
| Mass | (9.57 ± 4.32/3.15)Ã1017 kg[6] |
Mean density | 1.672 ± 0.755/0.551 g/cm3[6][b] |
| ~0.0241 m/s² | |
| ~0.0498 km/s | |
| 0.414 d (9.93 h)[1] | |
| Albedo | 0.029[1] |
| Temperature | ~170 K |
Spectral type | C[1] |
| 8.59[1] | |
Observation of the asteroid light curve indicates it is rotating with a period of 9.93 ± 0.01 hours. During this interval, the magnitude varies by an amplitude of 0.12 ± 0.02.[8] By combining the results of multiple light curves, the approximate ellipsoidal shape of the object can be estimated. It appears to be slightly elongated, being about 28.2% longer along one axis compared to the other two.[9] Atalante was observed by Arecibo radar in October 2010.[10][11]
This asteroid shares a mean-motion resonance with the planets Jupiter and Saturn. The computed Lyapunov time for this asteroid is only 4,000 years, indicating that it occupies a highly chaotic orbit that will change randomly over time because of gravitational perturbations of the planets. This is the shortest Lyapunov time of the first 100 named asteroids.[12]
Notes
- The /ætÉËlæntiË/ pronunciation is for the Greek form á¼ÏαλάνÏη; however, the name Atalante here is actually the German form of the Latin Atalanta, with the German final -e being a schwa much like an English final -a â and indeed, 'Atalanta' is given as the English form in Craig (1869).[3]
- Assuming a diameter of 103 ± 11.451 km.
