A low density of 0.8 g/cc for the Trojan binary asteroid 617 Patroclus

Details A low density of 0.8 g/cc for the Trojan binary asteroid 617 Patroclus A low density of 0.8 g/cc for the Trojan binary asteroid 617 Patroclus

2006-02-02

arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0602033v1

Nature 439:565-567,2006

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

10 pages, 3 figures, 1 table

Scientific paper

10.1038/nature04350

The Trojan population consists of two swarms of asteroids following the same orbit as Jupiter and located at the L4 and L5 Lagrange points of the Jupiter-Sun system (leading and following Jupiter by 60 degrees). The asteroid 617 Patroclus is the only known binary Trojan (Merline et al. 2001). The orbit of this double system was hitherto unknown. Here we report that the components, separated by 680 km, move around the system centre of mass, describing roughly a circular orbit. Using the orbital parameters, combined with thermal measurements to estimate the size of the components, we derive a very low density of 0.8 g/cc. The components of Patroclus are therefore very porous or composed mostly of water ice, suggesting that they could have been formed in the outer part of the solar system.

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