53 Kalypso

53 Kalypso
Discovery[1]
Discovered by Karl Theodor Robert Luther
Discovery date April 4, 1858
Designations
Named after
 Calypso
Main belt
Orbital characteristics[2]
Epoch December 31, 2006 (JD 2454100.5)
Aphelion 471.807 Gm (3.154 AU)
Perihelion 311.998 Gm (2.086 AU)
391.903 Gm (2.620 AU)
Eccentricity 0.204
1548.736 d (4.24 a)
18.21 km/s
98.113°
Inclination 5.153°
143.813°
312.330°
Physical characteristics
Dimensions 115.4 km[2]
Mass (5.63 ± 5.00) × 1018[3] kg
Mean density
 8.28 ± 7.54[3] g/cm3
0.0323 m/s²
0.0610 km/s
9.036[4] h
Albedo 0.040[2][5]
Temperature ~172 K
8.81[2]

    53 Kalypso /kəˈlɪpsoʊ/ is a large and very dark main belt asteroid that was discovered by German astronomer Robert Luther on April 4, 1858 at Düsseldorf.[1] It is named after Calypso, a sea nymph in Greek mythology, a name it shares with Calypso, a moon of Saturn.

    The orbit of 53 Kalypso places it in a mean motion resonance with the planets Jupiter and Saturn. The computed Lyapunov time for this asteroid is 19,000 years, indicating that it occupies a chaotic orbit that will change randomly over time because of gravitational perturbations of the planets.[6]

    Photometric observations of this asteroid during 2005–06 gave a light curve with a period of 18.075 ± 0.005 hours and a brightness variation of 0.14 in magnitude.[7] In 2009, a photometric study from a different viewing angle was performed at the Organ Mesa Observatory in Las Cruces, New Mexico, yielding a rotation period of 9.036 ± 0.001 with a brightness variation of 0.14 ± 0.02 magnitude. This is exactly half of the 2005-06 result. The author of the earlier study used additional data observation that favored the 9.036 hour period. The discrepancy was deemed a consequence of viewing the asteroid from different longitudes.[4]

    Kalypso has been studied by radar.[8]

    References

    1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Numbered Minor Planets 1–5000", Discovery Circumstances (IAU Minor Planet center), retrieved 2013-04-07.
    2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Yeomans, Donald K., "53 Kalypso", JPL Small-Body Database Browser (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory), retrieved 2013-04-12.
    3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Carry, B. (December 2012), "Density of asteroids", Planetary and Space Science 73: 98–118, arXiv:1203.4336, Bibcode:2012P&SS...73...98C, doi:10.1016/j.pss.2012.03.009. See Table 1.
    4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Pilcher, Frederick (April 2010), "Rotation Period Determination for 53 Kalypso", Bulletin of the Minor Planets Section of the Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers 37 (2): 75–76, Bibcode:2010MPBu...37...75P.
    5. ↑ Asteroid Data Sets
    6. ↑ Šidlichovský, M. (1999), Svoren, J.; Pittich, E. M.; Rickman, H., eds., "Resonances and chaos in the asteroid belt", Evolution and source regions of asteroids and comets : proceedings of the 173rd colloquium of the International Astronomical Union, held in Tatranska Lomnica, Slovak Republic, August 24–28, 1998: 297–308, Bibcode:1999esra.conf..297S.
    7. ↑ Pray, Donald P. et al. (December 2006), "Lightcurve analysis of asteroids 53, 698, 1016, 1523, 1950, 4608, 5080 6170, 7760, 8213, 11271, 14257, 15350 and 17509", Bulletin of the Minor Planets Section of the Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers 33 (4): 92–95, Bibcode:2006MPBu...33...92P.
    8. ↑ "Radar-Detected Asteroids and Comets". NASA/JPL Asteroid Radar Research. Retrieved 2011-10-30.

    External links