13062 Podarkes/pəˈdɑːrkiːz/ is a mid-sizedJupiter trojan from theGreek camp, approximately 29 kilometers (18 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 19 April 1991, by American astronomer coupleCarolyn andEugene Shoemaker at thePalomar Observatory, California.^[1] The dark Jovianasteroid is the principal body of the proposedPodarkes family. It was named after Podarkes fromGreek mythology.^[3]

The orbit of this Trojan asteroid is unstable.^[9][10] It is orbiting in the leading Greek camp at Jupiter'sL₄Lagrangian point, 60° ahead of its orbit(seeTrojans in astronomy). It orbits the Sun at a distance of 5.1–5.2 AU once every 11 years and 9 months (4,283 days;semi-major axis of 5.16 AU). Its orbit has aneccentricity of 0.01 and aninclination of 8° with respect to theecliptic.^[4] The first usedprecoveries were taken bySpacewatch of theSteward Observatory at Kitt Peak, extending the asteroid'sobservation arc by just two weeks prior to its discovery.^[1]

Fernando Roig andRicardo Gil-Hutton identifiedPodarkes as the principal body of a small Jovianasteroid family, using thehierarchical clustering method (HCM), which looks for groupings of neighboring asteroids based on the smallest distances between them in theproper orbital element space. According to the astronomers, thePodarkes family belongs to the largerMenelaus clan, an aggregation of Jupiter trojans which is composed of several families, similar to theFlora family in the innerasteroid belt.^{[11]: 9, 10}

However this family is not included inDavid Nesvorný's HCM-analysis from 2014.^[12] Instead,Podarkes is listed as a non-family asteroid of theJovian background population on the Asteroids Dynamic Site (AstDyS) which based on another analysis by Milani and Knežević.^[6]

Thisminor planet is named after the Greek warrior Podarkes fromGreek mythology, who took 40 ships to theTrojan War. He is the son ofAres and brother of Protesilaos, after whom the Jupiter trojan,3540 Protesilaos, is named.^[3] Protesilaos was the first Greek to set foot on the shores of Troy and to die in the war. The official naming citation was published by theMinor Planet Center on 13 October 2000 (M.P.C. 41386).^[13]

According to the survey carried out by theNEOWISE mission of NASA's space-basedWide-field Infrared Survey Explorer,Podarkes measures 28.96 kilometers in diameter, and its surface has analbedo of 0.084,^[7] while a generic diameter estimate, based on an absolutemagnitude of 11.1 and an albedo at 0.05 gives a larger diameter of approximately 40 kilometers.^[8] As of 2018, no rotationallightcurve ofPodarkes has been obtained fromphotometric observations. The body'srotation period,pole and shape remain unknown.^[4][14]

• Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB), query form (infoArchived 16 December 2017 at theWayback Machine)
• Dictionary of Minor Planet Names, Google books
• Asteroids and comets rotation curves, CdR – Observatoire de Genève, Raoul Behrend
• Discovery Circumstances: Numbered Minor Planets (10001)-(15000) – Minor Planet Center
• Asteroid 13062 PodarkesArchived 29 June 2018 at theWayback Machine at the Small Bodies Data Ferret
• 13062 Podarkes atAstDyS-2, Asteroids—Dynamic Site
  • Ephemeris · Observation prediction · Orbital info · Proper elements · Observational info
• 13062 Podarkes at theJPL Small-Body Database
  • Close approach · Discovery · Ephemeris · Orbit viewer · Orbit parameters · Physical parameters

• Minor planet object articles (numbered)
• Jupiter trojans (Greek camp)
• Discoveries by Eugene Merle Shoemaker
• Discoveries by Carolyn S. Shoemaker
• Named minor planets
• Astronomical objects discovered in 1991

• Use dmy dates from September 2019
• Webarchive template wayback links