53311 Deucalion

53311 Deucalion (provisional designation1999 HU₁₁) is a trans-Neptunian object from the classical Kuiper belt, with a diameter of approximately 130–210 kilometers (81–130 miles), located in the outermost region of the Solar System. The cubewano belongs to the cold population and was discovered on 18 April 1999, by the Deep Ecliptic Survey at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona, United States. It was named after Deucalion, from Greek mythology.^[1][6][5]

Deucalion orbits the Sun at a distance of 41.4–47.4 AU once every 295 years and 10 months (108,044 days; semi-major axis of 44.4 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.07 and an inclination of 0° with respect to the ecliptic.^[3] The body's observation arc begins six days prior to its official discovery observation in April 1999.^[1]

It is a cubewano from the classical Kuiper belt,^[6] located in between the resonant plutino and twotino populations and has a low-eccentricity orbit. With its very small inclination (0.3°), significantly less than 4–7°, the object belongs to the cold population rather than the "stirred" hot population.

This minor planet was named from Greek mythology after Deucalion, son of Prometheus. He and his wife Pyrrha were the only ones that survived the great deluge ("the flood of Deucalion") brought upon all humans by Zeus. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 14 June 2003 (M.P.C. 49102).^[7]

ジョンストンのアーカイブは、アルベドを0.09と仮定して直径を212キロメートルと推定しているが、アメリカの天文学者マイケル・ブラウンは、推定アルベド0.20と絶対等級6.6を使用して直径を131キロメートルと計算している。^{[ 6 ] [ 5 ]}

2018年現在、分光観測および測光観測からスペクトル型や色指数、回転光度曲線は得られていない。天体の色、自転周期、極、形状は不明のままである。^{[ 3 ] [ 8 ]}

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• 小惑星名辞典、Googleブックス
• 発見状況：番号付き小惑星（50001）～（55000） – 小惑星中心
• 53311 デウカリオン（AstDyS-2、小惑星—ダイナミックサイト）
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