Abstract
In 2006-2007, the binary Trojan system (617) Patroclus-Menotius reached
one of its annual equinoxes. As a consequence, the system underwent a 6
months season of mutual eclipses and occultations. We organized a
campaign of observations of these mutual events mostly centered along
the first semester of 2007. We took advantage of an orbit solution of
the similary-sized binary system published by Marchis et al. (Nature,
2006) to predict the timing of mutual eclipses and occultations
observable from January to July 2007. During the campaign, the magnitude
of Patroclus system varied from 15.8 to 16.6 and its solar phase from
9°.5 to 2°.7 at opposition (end of March). The amplitude of the
events ranged between 0.2 and 0.3 magnitude. A large number of stations
around the world were involved in the campaign and 20 lightcurves with
mutual events signature were collected
(http://www.imcce.fr/page.php?nav=en/observateur/campagnes_obs/patroclus/).
With such favorable circumstances, photometric observations of the
events will provide tight constraints regarding physical properties of
the system such as sizes, shapes, sidereal spin period and surface
composition. Combining AO observations collected at Keck and Gemini with
this lightcurve data, we have refined the orbital parameters of the
binary system to an unprecedented accuracy. We will present these
findings, the determination of the sizes and shapes, and other results
from the data analysis. This material is partly based upon work
supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration issue
through the Science Mission Directorate Research and Analysis Programs
number NNG05GF09G.
Original language | English |
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Journal | American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #50 |
Volume | 39 |
Publication status | Published - 1 Oct 2007 |
Externally published | Yes |