| Background: |
|
| 36 Atalante | |
| Discoverer: | H. Goldschmidt |
| Discovered: | October 5, 1855 |
| Mpc Name: | (36) Atalante |
| Pronounced: | for Atalanta, for Atalante[1] |
| Adjective: | Atalantean [2] |
| Alt Names: | A901 SB; A912 HC Atalanta[3] |
| Named After: | Atalanta |
| Mp Category: | Main belt |
| Epoch: | December 31, 2006 (JD 2454100.5) |
| Semimajor: | 410.921 Gm (2.747 AU) |
| Perihelion: | 286.217 Gm (1.913 AU) |
| Aphelion: | 535.625 Gm (3.580 AU) |
| Eccentricity: | 0.303 |
| Period: | 1662.831 d (4.55 a) |
| Inclination: | 18.432° |
| Asc Node: | 358.472° |
| Arg Peri: | 47.132° |
| Mean Anomaly: | 47.005° |
| Avg Speed: | 17.55 km/s |
| Mean Diameter: | 132.842 ± 29.191 km[4] 110.14 ± 4.38 km |
| Mass: | (9.57 ± 4.32/3.15) kg |
| Density: | 1.672 ± 0.755/0.551 g/cm3 |
| Surface Grav: | ~ m/s² |
| Escape Velocity: | ~ km/s |
| Rotation: | 0.414 d (9.93 h) |
| Spectral Type: | C |
| Abs Magnitude: | 8.59 |
| Albedo: | 0.029 |
| Single Temperature: | ~170 K |
36 Atalante is a large, dark main-belt asteroid. It was discovered by the German-French astronomer H. Goldschmidt on October 5, 1855, and named by French mathematician Urbain Le Verrier after the Greek mythological heroine Atalanta (of which Atalante is the French and German form, pronounced nearly the same as 'Atalanta' in English). It was rendered 'Atalanta' in English sources in the 19th century.[3] This asteroid is classified as C-type (carbonaceous), according to the Tholen classification system.[4]
Observation of the asteroid light curve indicates it is rotating with a period of . During this interval, the magnitude varies by an amplitude of 0.12 ± 0.02. By combining the results of multiple light curves, the approximate ellipsoidal shape of the object can be estimated. It appears to be slightly elongated, being about 28.2% longer along one axis compared to the other two. Atalante was observed by Arecibo radar in October 2010.[5] [6]
This asteroid shares a mean-motion resonance with the planets Jupiter and Saturn. The computed Lyapunov time for this asteroid is only 4,000 years, indicating that it occupies a highly chaotic orbit that will change randomly over time because of gravitational perturbations of the planets. This is the shortest Lyapunov time of the first 100 named asteroids.