130 Elektra and S/2003 (130) 1

  • S/2003 (130) 1 was discovered by Merline et al.,(IAUc, 7827) in Aug. 2003. Its orbital elements were unknown.
  • The orbit model presented here is based on 4 positions taken with the VLT-NACO in Jan.2004 and one Keck observation in Dec. 2004. The orbit is consequently poorly constrained.

Orbital Elements of S/2003 (130) 1

Orbital Properties Elektra & S/2003 (130) 1
Semi-major axis (a) 1252 +/- 30 km
Inclination (i)

~3 deg w.r.t primary with Orb A + Spin2

~46 deg w.r.t primary with Orb B + Spin1
Eccentricity (e) =0.01 forced
Period (P) 3.92 +/- 0.03 days
Mass Mk 1.28E19 kg
Density (rho) 3.5-4.1g/cm3
Nominal Porosity ~0
  • Two pole solutions from the litterature were considered Spin1 (191; -80) and Spin2 (244; -36)
  • 2 orbital solutions are coherent with these pole solutions
  • Elektra's primary is a G-type asteroid with an irregular shape (see Fig. 2)
  • The density is surprisingly high for this asteroid - Additional observations are necessary to better constrain this interesting system

Orbit of Elektra's Satellite

Fig 1: Estimated Orbit of 130 Elektra's satellite.

 

Shape of 130 Elektra

 

 

Fig 2: Shape of Elektra and comparison with Kaasalainen et al. (2002) lightcurve inversion model (Marchis et al., 2005)