35 Leukothea

35 Leukothea g
Three-dimensional model of 35 Leukothea created based on light-curve
Discovery
Discovered byR. Luther
Discovery dateApril 19, 1855
Designations
Designation
(35) Leukothea
Pronunciation/ljuːˈkɒθiə/[1]
Named after
Λευκοθέα Leykothea
1948 DC; 1950 RS1; 1976 WH
Main belt
AdjectivesLeukothean /ljuːˈkɒθiən/
Symbol (historical)
Orbital characteristics[2]
Epoch December 31, 2006 (JD 2454100.5)
Aphelion549.374 Gm (3.672 AU)
Perihelion345.074 Gm (2.307 AU)
447.224 Gm (2.990 AU)
Eccentricity0.228
1,887.983 d (5.17 a)
17.00 km/s
77.469°
Inclination7.938°
353.817°
213.962°
Physical characteristics
103.05 ± 1.2 km[3]
Mass(1.014 ± 0.491/0.321)×1018 kg[3]
Mean density
1.769 ± 0.857/0.56 g/cm3[3]
~0.0513 km/s
31.900[4] h
Albedo0.066[5]
Temperature~162 K
Spectral type
C
8.5

35 Leukothea is a large, dark asteroid from the asteroid belt. It was discovered by German astronomer Karl Theodor Robert Luther on April 19, 1855,[6] and named after Leukothea, a sea goddess in Greek mythology. Its historical symbol was a pharos (ancient lighthouse); it is in the pipeline for Unicode 17.0 as U+1CED0 𜻐 ().[7][8]

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]

  1. ^ "Leukothea". Dictionary.com Unabridged (Online). n.d.
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference jpl was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference FiengaEtAl2020 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Pilcher2010 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference ADA was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference IAU_MPC was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Bala, Gavin Jared; Miller, Kirk (18 September 2023). "Unicode request for historical asteroid symbols" (PDF). unicode.org. Unicode. Retrieved 26 September 2023.
  8. ^ Unicode. "Proposed New Characters: The Pipeline". unicode.org. The Unicode Consortium. Retrieved 6 November 2023.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference Sidlichovsky was invoked but never defined (see the help page).