3540 Protesilaos
Encyclopedia
3540 Protesilaos is a Jupiter Trojan asteroid
that orbits in the Lagrangian point
of the Sun
-Jupiter
system, in the "Greek Camp" of Trojan asteroids. It was named after the Greek
hero Protesilaus
, who fought during the Trojan War
. It was discovered by Freimut Börngen
at the Karl Schwarzschild Observatory
in Tautenburg
, Germany
on October 27, 1973.
Asteroid
Asteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...
that orbits in the Lagrangian point
Lagrangian point
The Lagrangian points are the five positions in an orbital configuration where a small object affected only by gravity can theoretically be stationary relative to two larger objects...
of the Sun
Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...
-Jupiter
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn,...
system, in the "Greek Camp" of Trojan asteroids. It was named after the Greek
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
hero Protesilaus
Protesilaus
In Greek mythology, Protesilaus , was a hero in the Iliad who was venerated at cult sites in Thessaly and Thrace. Protesilaus was the son of Iphicles, a "lord of many sheep"; as grandson of the eponymous Phylacos, he was the leader of the Phylaceans...
, who fought during the Trojan War
Trojan War
In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, the king of Sparta. The war is among the most important events in Greek mythology and was narrated in many works of Greek literature, including the Iliad...
. It was discovered by Freimut Börngen
Freimut Börngen
Freimut Börngen is a German astronomer. A few sources give his first name wrongly as Freimuth.He has studied galaxies with the Schmidt telescope at the Karl Schwarzschild Observatory in Tautenburg, Germany. In 1995 he retired, but continues to work as a freelancer for the observatory...
at the Karl Schwarzschild Observatory
Karl Schwarzschild Observatory
The Karl-Schwarzschild-Observatorium is an astronomical observatory owned and operated by the institute of Thüringer Landessternwarte ’Karl Schwarzschild’ Tautenburg. In 1992 it was acquired by the state of Thuringia...
in Tautenburg
Tautenburg
Tautenburg, a municipality in the Saale-Holzland district in Thuringia in Germany, houses the Karl Schwarzschild Observatory....
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
on October 27, 1973.
External links
- Discovery Circumstances: Numbered Minor Planets
- Orbital simulation from JPL (Java) / Ephemeris