| Issue |
A&A
Volume 680, December 2023
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Article Number | A21 | |
| Number of page(s) | 6 | |
| Section | Planets and planetary systems | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202347158 | |
| Published online | 05 December 2023 | |
Close-to-fission dumbbell Jupiter-Trojan (17365) Thymbraeus
1
Université Côte d’Azur, Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, CNRS, Laboratoire Lagrange,
06304
Nice, France
e-mail: benoit.carry@oca.eu
2
IMCCE, Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University, CNRS, Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ. Paris 06, Univ. Lille,
75014
Paris, France
3
Arecibo Observatory, University of Central Florida, HC-3 Box 53995,
Arecibo,
PR
00612,
USA
4
Space sciences, Technologies and Astrophysics Research (STAR) Institute, Université de Liège,
Allée du 6 Août 17,
4000
Liège, Belgium
5
Université Côte d’Azur, Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, CNRS, UAR Galilée,
06304
Nice, France
6
Sección Física, Departamento de Ciencias, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú,
Apartado
1761,
Lima,
Perú
7
Astronomical Institute of the Romanian Academy,
Cutitul de argint -5, sector 4,
Bucharest, Romania
8
Oukaimeden Observatory, High Energy Physics and Astrophysics Laboratory, Cadi Ayyad University,
Marrakech, Morocco
Received:
12
June
2023
Accepted:
18
September
2023
Context. Every population of small bodies in the Solar System contains a sizable fraction of multiple systems. Of these, the Jupiter Trojans have the lowest number of known binary systems and they are the least well characterized.
Aims. We aim to characterize the reported binary system (17365) Thymbraeus, one of only seven multiple systems of Jupiter Trojans known.
Methods. We conducted light curve observing campaigns in 2013, 2015, and 2021 with ground-based telescopes. We modeled these light curves using dumbbell figures of equilibrium.
Results. We show that Thymbraeus is unlikely a binary system. Its light curves are fully consistent with a bilobated shape: a dumbbell equilibrium figure. We determine a low density of 830 ± 50 kg m−3, consistent with the reported density of other Jupiter-Trojan asteroids and small Kuiper belt objects. The angular velocity of Thymbraeus is close to fission. If separated, its components would become a similarly sized double asteroid, like the Jupiter-Trojan (617) Patroclus.
Key words: minor planets, asteroids: individual: (17365) Thymbareus / techniques: photometric
© The Authors 2023
Open Access article, published by EDP Sciences, under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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