53 Kalypso

53 Kalypso
Three-dimensional model of 53 Kalypso created based on its lightcurve
Discovery
Discovered byKarl Theodor Robert Luther
Discovery date4 April 1858
Designations
Pronunciation/kəˈlɪpsoʊ/
Named after
Calypso
Main belt
AdjectivesKalypsonian /kælɪpˈsoʊniən/
Kalypsoian /kælɪpˈsoʊ.iən/
Orbital characteristics
Epoch 31 December 2006 (JD 2454100.5)
Aphelion471.807 million km (3.154 AU)
Perihelion311.998 million km (2.086 AU)
391.903 million km (2.620 AU)
Eccentricity0.204
1548.736 d (4.24 a)
98.113°
Inclination5.153°
143.813°
312.330°
Physical characteristics
Dimensions115.4 km
Mass(1.294 ± 0.520/0.412)×1018 kg
(6.1±1.9)×1017 kg
Mean density
1.625 ± 0.653/0.517 g/cm3
1.28 g/cm3
9.036 h
0.040
8.81

53 Kalypso is a large and very dark main belt asteroid that was discovered by German astronomer Robert Luther on 4 April 1858, at Düsseldorf. 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.

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. 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.

Kalypso has been studied by radar.

Notes

  1. ↑ Calculated from its standard gravitational parameter GM = 0.041±0.013 km3/s2.
  2. ↑ Assuming a diameter of 115 ± 10.324 km.
  3. ↑ Assuming a diameter of 97.3 km.

References

  1. 1 2 "Numbered Minor Planets 1–5000", Discovery Circumstances, IAU Minor Planet center, retrieved 7 April 2013.
  2. ↑ Noah Webster (1884) A Practical Dictionary of the English Language
  3. ↑ "calypsonian". Oxford English Dictionary (online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  4. 1 2 3 4 Yeomans, Donald K., "53 Kalypso", JPL Small-Body Database Browser, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, retrieved 12 April 2013.
  5. 1 2 Fienga, A.; Avdellidou, C.; Hanuš, J. (February 2020). "Asteroid masses obtained with INPOP planetary ephemerides". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 492 (1). doi:10.1093/mnras/stz3407.
  6. 1 2 Fuentes-Muñoz, Oscar; Farnocchia, Davide; Giorgini, Jon D.; Park, Ryan S. (1 December 2025). "Asteroid Mass Estimation by Mutual Perturbations During Close Encounters After Gaia Focused Product Release". The Astronomical Journal. 170 (6): 353. Bibcode:2025AJ....170..353F. doi:10.3847/1538-3881/ae0cc9. ISSN 0004-6256. S2CID 283347135.
  7. 1 2 Pilcher, Frederick (April 2010), "Rotation Period Determination for 53 Kalypso", The Minor Planet Bulletin, 37 (2): 75–76, Bibcode:2010MPBu...37...75P.
  8. ↑ Asteroid Data Sets Archived 17 December 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  9. ↑ 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, pp. 297–308, Bibcode:1999esra.conf..297S.
  10. ↑ 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", The Minor Planet Bulletin, 33 (4): 92–95, Bibcode:2006MPBu...33...92P.
  11. ↑ "Radar-Detected Asteroids and Comets". NASA/JPL Asteroid Radar Research. Retrieved 30 October 2011.