5120 Bitias
5120 Bitias is a Jupiter trojan from the Trojan camp, approximately in diameter. It was discovered on 13 October 1988, by American astronomer Carolyn Shoemaker at the Palomar Observatory in California. The assumed C-type asteroid has a rotation period of 15.2 hours. It was named after Bitias, a companion of Aeneus in Virgil's Aeneid.
Orbit and classification
Bitias is a dark Jovian asteroid in a 1:1 orbital resonance with Jupiter. It is located in the trailing Trojan camp at the Gas Giant's Lagrangian point, 60° behind on its orbit. It is also a non-family asteroid of the Jovian background population.It orbits the Sun at a distance of 4.7–5.9 AU once every 12 years and 1 month. Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.11 and an inclination of 25° with respect to the ecliptic. The body's observation arc begins with its first observation at Palomar in September 1988, just one month prior to its official discovery observation.
Physical characteristics
Bitias is an assumed, carbonaceous C-type asteroid. It has a low V–I color index of 0.78.Rotation period
In March 1993, a rotational lightcurve of Bitias was obtained from photometric observations over four consecutive nights by Stefano Mottola using the ESO 1-metre telescope at La Silla Observatory in Chile. Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period of 11.582 hours with a brightness variation of at least 0.38 magnitude.In August 2013, a more refined period determination from observations over seven consecutive nights by Robert Stephens at the Center for Solar System Studies gave a well-defined period of hours with an amplitude of 0.32 magnitude.