| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | C. J. van Houten I. van Houten-G. T. Gehrels |
| Discovery site | Palomar Obs. |
| Discovery date | 24 September 1960 |
| Designations | |
| (1869) Philoctetes | |
| Pronunciation | /fɪləkˈtiːtiːz/[2] |
Named after | Philoctetes (Greek mythology)[3] |
| 4596 P-L | |
| Jupiter trojan[4] (Greek camp)[5] | |
| Orbital characteristics[1] | |
| Epoch 4 September 2017 (JD 2458000.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 56.61 yr (20,677 days) |
| Aphelion | 5.5755AU |
| Perihelion | 4.8600 AU |
| 5.2178 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.0686 |
| 11.92yr (4,353 days) | |
| 247.19° | |
| Inclination | 3.9745° |
| 43.984° | |
| 321.66° | |
| Jupiter MOID | 0.0807 AU |
| TJupiter | 2.9900 |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 22.655±3.404 km[6] |
| 0.104±0.031[6] | |
| 11.2[1] | |
1869 Philoctetes/fɪləkˈtiːtiːz/ is aJupiter trojan from the Greek camp, approximately 23 kilometers in diameter.
It was discovered on September 24, 1960, by the Dutch and Dutch–American astronomersCornelis van Houten,Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld andTom Gehrels atPalomar Observatory on Palomar Mountain, California.[4] The asteroid was named afterPhiloctetes from Greek mythology.[3] On the same night, the same group also discovered1868 Thersites.
Philoctetes orbits in theL4Lagrangian point of the Sun–Jupiter system, in the"Greek Camp" of Trojan asteroids.[5] It orbits the Sun at a distance of 4.9–5.6 AU once every 11 years and 11 months (4,353 days). Its orbit has aneccentricity of 0.07 and aninclination of 4° with respect to theecliptic.[1]
According to the survey carried out by NASA'sWide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequentNEOWISE mission,Philoctetes measures 22.7 kilometers in diameter, and its surface has analbedo of 0.104.[6]
As of 2017, the body'srotation period and shape remain unknown.[1][7]
Thesurvey designationP-L stands forPalomar–Leiden, named after Palomar Observatory andLeiden Observatory, which collaborated on the fruitfulPalomar–Leiden survey in the 1960s. Gehrels used Palomar'sSamuel Oschin telescope (also known as the 48-inch Schmidt Telescope), and shipped thephotographic plates to Cornelis Johannes van Houten and Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld at Leiden Observatory. The trio are credited with several thousand asteroid discoveries.[8]
Thisminor planet was named after the Greek mythological figurePhiloctetes, famed archer and participant in theTrojan War, where he killedParis, son of the Trojan KingPriam.[3] The officialnaming citation was published by theMinor Planet Center on 1 June 1975 (M.P.C. 3826).[9]
