(617) Patroclus

(617) Patroclus is an asteroid belonging to the Trojan asteroids of Jupiter discovered on October 17, 1906 by August Kopff from the Heidelberg-Königstuhl observatory, Germany. It is named after Patroclus, a character from Greek mythology, Achilles' presumed lover.

Orbital characteristics

Patroclus is located at the Lagrange point L₅ of the Sun-Jupiter system, so it belongs to the Trojan asteroids of the Trojan field.

Binary system

On September 22, 2001, a team of astronomers from the Gemini Observatory discovered the binary character of Patroclus. At that time, the second component was provisionally named S/ 2001 (617) 1. Later, in 2006, he obtained the final designation of (617) Patroclus I Menoetius, after Menoetius, father of Patroclus in Greek mythology. It is estimated that both Objects revolve around their center of mass at about 680 km in 4,283 days. Later studies have proposed that the larger body is about 106 km in diameter and the smaller 98 km.

Composition

Because their density is less than that of water, both Patroclus and Menoetius are thought to be more comet-like than asteroid-like and are suspected to be planetesimals captured by Jupiter during the migration of the giant planets.