5335 Damocles
5335 Damocles is the main asteroid of the Damocloids, asteroids that are inactive comets of the Halley Family and long period comets. It was found in 1991 and named after Damocles, a figure of Greek mythology.
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | R. H. McNaught |
| Discovery site | Siding Spring Obs. |
| Discovery date | 18 February 1991 |
| Designations | |
| MPC designation | (5335) Damocles |
| Pronunciation | /ˈdæməkliːz/[5] |
Named after | Damocles (Greek mythology)[1] |
| 1991 DA | |
| distant [2] centaur [3] · damocloid [4] | |
| Adjectives | Damoclean (/dæməˈkliːən/)[6] |
| Orbital characteristics [3] | |
| Epoch 4 September 2017 (JD 2458000.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 4 | |
| Observation arc | 1.51 yr (551 days) |
| Aphelion | 22.078 AU |
| Perihelion | 1.5741 AU |
| 11.826 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.8669 |
| 40.67 Jyr (14,854 days) | |
| 236.35° | |
| 0° 1m 27.12s / day | |
| Inclination | 61.875° |
| 314.14° | |
| 191.26° | |
| Mars MOID | 0.05787 AU[2] |
| TJupiter | 1.149 |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | ~ 10 km[7] |
| 26.56[8] | |
| 13.3[3][8] | |
When Damocles was found, in 1991 by Robert H. McNaught, it was found to be on an orbit that was very different from all others known. Damocles' orbit reached from inside the aphelion (farthest approach from the Sun) of Mars to as far as Uranus. Its orbit seemed to be changing from an almost round outer solar system orbit to a stretched orbit taking it to the inner solar system.[9] Duncan Steel, Gerhard Hahn, Mark Bailey, and David Asher found out what's it's future could be, and found a good chance that it will become an Earth-crosser asteroid, and may spend a quarter of its life in such an orbit. Damocles has a stable orbit for tens of thousands of years before and after the present, because its highly tilted orbit does not take it near Jupiter or Saturn.
The adjective for Damocles is Damoclean, /dæməˈkliːən/.[10]
It is the namesake for the damocloids
Notes
- ↑ Schmadel, Lutz D. (2007). "(5335) Damocles". Dictionary of Minor Planet Names. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. p. 457. doi:10.1007/978-3-540-29925-7_5143. ISBN 978-3-540-00238-3.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "(5335) Damocles (1991 DA)". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "1992-08-22 last obs". JPL Small-Body Database Browser. (5335) Damocles (1991 DA). Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
- ↑ Akimasa Nakamura and bas (2 May 2009). "List of Damocloids (Oort cloud asteroids)". Lowell Observatory. Retrieved 15 February 2017.
- ↑ Webster, Noah (1884). A Practical Dictionary of the English Language.
- ↑ Oxford English Dictionary
- ↑ Johnston, Wm. Robert (25 May 2019). "List of known trans-Neptunian objects". Johnston'sArchive.net. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 "AstDyS Damocles Ephemerides". Department of Mathematics, University of Pisa, Italy. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
- ↑ Steel, D. "Rogue Asteroids and Doomsday Comets", page 127-8. Wiley & Sons, 1995
- ↑ OED
References
- AstDys
- NASA JPL Small-Body Database Browser on 5335 Damocles
- for JPL Horizons telnet version is most comprehensive