15436 Dexius


15436 Dexius is a large Jupiter trojan from the Greek camp, approximately in diameter. It was discovered on 10 November 1998, by astronomers of the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research at the Lincoln Laboratory's Experimental Test Site near Socorro, New Mexico. The presumed C-type asteroid has a rotation period of 8.97 hours. It is one of the [|50 largest Jupiter trojans] and was named after Dexius, father of Iphinous from Greek mythology.

Orbit and classification

Dexius is a dark Jovian asteroid orbiting in the leading Greek camp at Jupiter's Lagrangian point, 60° ahead of its orbit in a 1:1 resonance '. It is a non-family asteroid in the Jovian background population. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 5.0–5.4 Astronomical units once every 11 years and 11 months. Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.04 and an inclination of 16° with respect to the ecliptic.
The body's observation arc begins with its first observation as ' at the Goethe Link Observatory in November 1962, or 36 years prior to its official discovery observation at Socorro.

Numbering and naming

This minor planet was numbered on 21 June 2000. On 14 May 2021, the object was named by the Working Group for Small Bodies Nomenclature, after Dexius, father of Iphinous from Greek mythology.

Physical characteristics

Dexius is a generically assumed C-type asteroid.

Rotation period

In 2013 and 2014, two rotational lightcurves of Dexius were obtained from photometric observations by Robert Stephens at the Trojan Station of Center for Solar System Studies in Landers, California. Lightcurve analysis gave an identical rotation period of 8.97 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.15 and 0.29 magnitude, respectively.

Diameter and albedo

According to the surveys carried out by the Japanese Akari satellite, the Infrared Astronomical Satellite IRAS, and the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Dexius measures between 78.63 and 87.65 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo between 0.038 and 0.053. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link derives an albedo of 0.0547 and a diameter of 86.00 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 9.1.