The Arkesilaos family (008[1]) is a small collisional asteroid family of at least 37 known asteroids,[2] named for its largest member, the 22-kilometre (14 mi)-across asteroid 20961 Arkesilaos. It lies within the larger dynamical group of Jupiter trojans, a group of asteroids in an orbital resonance with Jupiter such that they stay about 60 degrees ahead of/behind the planet in its orbit at all times in the Lagrange points L4 and L5, with the Arkesilaos family being part of the leading cloud around L4, also known as the Greek camp. All members of the family are dark (assumed to be C-type asteroids) with albedos of around 0.06.

An asteroid family is a group of physically related asteroids usually created by a collision with an original larger asteroid, with the fragments continuing on similar orbits to the original. This is distinct from a dynamical group in that the members of a dynamical group only share similar orbits because of gravitational interactions with planets, which concentrate asteroids in a particular orbital range. Members of the Arkesilaos family are both part of the wider Trojan dynamical group, and fragments of 20961 Arkesilaos. The family is considered a catastrophic asteroid family because 20961 Arkesilaos, its largest member, makes up only a fifth of the family's mass.[3]

Large members

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 20961 Arkesilaos(189772) 2002 CQ78(241573) 1995 QE9(202791) 2008 QC4(263802) 2008 RG19(296745) 2009 TL46(257566) 1998 WP37(353359) 2010 WN60(310668) 2002 EQ140(264110) 2009 SL339Arkesilaos family
Mass distribution of the Arkesilaos family (assuming similar densities)
The 10 brightest Arkesilaos family members[2]
Name Abs. Mag Size (km) proper
a
(AU)
proper
e
proper
i
20961 Arkesilaos 11.95 22 5.2758 0.029 8.890
(189772) 2002 CQ78 12.80 15 5.2891 0.027 8.847
(241573) 1995 QE9 12.96 14 5.2424 0.033 9.032
(202791) 2008 QC4 13.11 13 5.2437 0.031 8.970
(263802) 2008 RG19 13.27 13 5.2354 0.029 8.518
(296745) 2009 TL46 13.36 13 5.2457 0.031 8.865
(257566) 1998 WP37 13.40 11 5.2397 0.039 8.816
(353359) 2010 WN60 13.41 11 5.2389 0.030 8.613
(310668) 2002 EQ140 13.50 11 5.2719 0.040 8.724
(264110) 2009 SL339 13.51 11 5.2492 0.030 8.939

References

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  1. ^ Nesvorny, D.; Broz, M.; Carruba, V. (2015). "Identification and Dynamical Properties of Asteroid Families". Asteroids IV. doi:10.48550/arXiv.1502.01628. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
  2. ^ a b Nesvorný, David (14 August 2020). "Nesvorny HCM Asteroid Families | PDS SBN Asteroid/Dust Subnode". NASA Planetary Data System. doi:10.26033/6cg5-pt13. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
  3. ^ Holsapple, K.A.; Housen, K.R. (December 2019). "The catastrophic disruptions of asteroids: History, features, new constraints and interpretations". Planetary and Space Science. 179: 104724. doi:10.1016/j.pss.2019.104724. Retrieved 30 July 2024.