10370 Hylonome


10370 Hylonome is a minor planet orbiting in the outer Solar System. The dark and icy body belongs to the class of centaurs and measures approximately 75 kilometers in diameter.
It was discovered on 27 February 1995, by English astronomer David C. Jewitt and Vietnamese American astronomer Jane Luu at the U.S. Mauna Kea Observatory in Hawaii, and later named after the mythological creature Hylonome.

Classification and orbit

Centaurs are a large population of icy bodies in transition between trans-Neptunian objects and Jupiter-family comets, their orbits being unstable due to perturbations by the giant planets. Currently, Uranus controls Hylonomes perihelion and Neptune its aphelion.
Hylonome is a carbonaceous C-type body that orbits the Sun in the outer main-belt at a distance of 18.9–31.4 AU once every 126 years and 2 months. Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.25 and an inclination of 4° with respect to the ecliptic. It is a Neptune-crosser, and an outer-grazer of the orbit of Uranus, which it hence does not cross. Its minimum orbital intersection distance with Neptune and Uranus is 0.35854 and 0.52875 AU, respectively.
It is estimated to have a relatively long orbital half-life of about 6.37 million years. In the year 3478, it will pass within approximately 85 gigameters of Uranus and its semi-major axis will be reduced from 25.1 to 23.5 AU.

Physical characteristics

Observations with the infrared Spitzer Space Telescope indicate a diameter of kilometers, whereas the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for carbonaceous bodies of 0.057, giving it a diameter of 75.1 kilometers with an absolute magnitude of 9.35.
A study in 2014, using data from Spitzers Multiband Imaging Photometer and Herschels Photodetector Array Camera and Spectrometer, gave a low albedo and a diameter of kilometers, based on an absolute magnitude of. The study concluded that among the observed population of centaurs, there is no correlation between their sizes, albedos, and orbital parameters. However, the smaller the centaur, the more reddish it is.

Naming

This minor planet was named for Hylonome, a female centaur in Greek mythology. In the epic tragedy, she lost her very much beloved husband, the handsome centaur Cyllarus, who was accidentally killed by a spear. Heartbroken, she then took her own life to join him by throwing herself on the spear. The official naming citation was published on 26 July 2000.