The properties of the (617) Patroclus binary system derived from the mutualevents of 2017–2018 and 2024–2025

Fernandez, Joaquin; Popescu, Marcel; Pinilla-Alonso, Noemí; Serra-Ricart Serra-Ricart, Miquel; Licandro, Javier; Alarcón, Miguel R.; Matamoros Pava, Lucía; Fernández Valenzuela, Estela
Referencia bibliográfica

EPSC-DPS Joint Meeting 2025 (EPSC-DPS2025

Fecha de publicación:
9
2025
Número de autores
8
Número de autores del IAC
2
Número de citas
0
Número de citas referidas
0
Descripción
The (617) Patroclus is a binary asteroid system located in the trailing Trojan group (L5) ofJupiter. The two components, Patroclus and Menoetius (the satellite), orbit a common center ofmass and are nearly equal in size. Studies suggest that Jupiter's Trojan asteroids, includingPatroclus and Menoetius, may have originated from the outer solar system and were later capturedinto their current orbits during the migration of the giant planets (e.g., Morbidelli et al., 2005). Thebinary nature of this system adds another layer of importance, as such systems are thought to formunder specific conditions. Their mutual orbit provides valuable insights into the distribution ofmass, size, and material in the early solar system (e.g., Merline et al., 2001). The Lucy spacecraft isexpected to fly by this system in 2033, marking the final encounter of its 12-year journey. A particularly useful technique for studying binary asteroids involves observing mutualevents—eclipses or occultations—that occur when the orbital plane of the system aligns with boththe Sun and the observer. This alignment allows for the accurate determination of key orbitalparameters and the physical characteristics of the system, including mutual orbital elements and theshape of the bodies. As a result, we initiated an observing campaign that ran during both the 2017-2018 season and the 2024-2025 season. We observed a total of 7 events using various telescopes across the Earth during 2017-2018.During 2024-2025 we took advantage of the cutting edge instruments provide by Light Bridges, theTwin Two Mtere telescopes and we were able to capture 15 complex events (occultations andeclipses). These telescopes are locate at at the Teide Observatory of the Instituto de Astrofisica deCanarias (IAC), that Light Bridges operates in the island of Tenerife, Canary Islands (Spain). Theobservations made with TTT were performed using the Luminance filter. The log of all theseobservations is shown in Table 1. We retrieved the right ascension and declination of (617) Patroclus from the Minor PlanetCenter. We modeled the two components, Patroclus and Menoetius, as ellipsoids and ran a two-body problem code for various orbital parameters. To determine the best orbital solution, weimplemented a grid search algorithm. The light curves were computed by considering threeelements in the plane of sight: the projections of Patroclus, Menoetius, and the shadow cast by thebody in front. We then calculated the flux contribution from the foreground body and the portion ofits shadow covering the background body at each timestamp using the following formula: Thanks to the new model implemented in this study, we obtained a refined orbital solutionby trying to match all the 22 events. The best match between (Figure 1) the model and theobservations was achieved using the following orbital parameters: a (semi-major axis) = 692.4 ± 5km, e (eccentricity) = 0.018 ± 0.018, i (inclination) = 164.8° ± 0.2, L (mean longitude) = 114.13° ±5, Ω (longitude of the ascending node) = 270.04° ± 2.3, T (orbital period) = 4.272797 ± 0.00003days. The estimated dimensions are 118.76 × 107.3 × 104.78 km for Patroclus, and 110.7 × 96.88 ×94.24 km for Menoetius.Observation log: N.images refers to the number of frames acquired for each event; UT start and UTend indicate the start and end times of each observation in UTC; details on the telescope,instrument, filter, and exposure time (Texp) used for each observation night are also included. As noted by Pinilla-Alonso et al. (2022), there is a discrepancy in the superior events whenattempting to match the model to the upper occultation data. This difference is attributed to a craterlocated at the south pole of Menoetius, as proposed in that study. Our new observations areconsistent with this interpretation (e.g. Figure 2). Figure 1: Example of an observed (blue) and simulated (black) light curve for an inferior mutualevent in the Patroclus-Menoetius system. The simulated lightcurve was obtained using the bestsolution we found Figure 2: Example of an observed (blue) and simulated (black) light curve for an superior mutualevent in the Patroclus-Menoetius system.The simulated lightcurve was obtained using the bestsolution we found