Actaea (moon) explained

Actaea
Discoverer:Keith S. Noll, Harold F. Levison, Denise C. Stephen, William M. Grundy
Discovered:21 July 2006
Mpc Name:Salacia I
Alt Names:S/2006 (120347) 1
Adjectives:Actaean
Semimajor: km
Period: days
Inclination:°
Asc Node:°
Arg Peri:°
Dimensions:[1]
Mass:≈ 
Albedo:≈ 0.035 +0.010/−0.007
Spectral Type:V–I = (Actaea)
Abs Magnitude:1.9 mag

Actaea, officially (120347) Salacia I Actaea, is a natural satellite of the classical Kuiper belt object 120347 Salacia. Its diameter is estimated to be approximately 300km (200miles), which is approximately one-third the diameter of Salacia; thus, Salacia and Actaea are viewed by William Grundy et al. to be a binary system. Assuming that the following size estimates are correct, Actaea is about the sixth-biggest known moon of a trans-Neptunian object, after Charon (1212 km), Dysnomia (700 km),[2] Vanth (443 km),[3] Ilmarë (326 km),[4] and Hiʻiaka (320 km), but possibly also Hiisi (250 km).

Discovery and name

It was discovered on 21 July 2006 by Keith S. Noll, Harold Levison, Denise Stephens, and Will Grundy with the Hubble Space Telescope.[5] On 18 February 2011, it was officially named Actaea after the Nereid nymph named Actaea.

Orbit

Actaea orbits its primary every at a distance of and with an eccentricity of .[6] The ratio of its semi-major axis to its primary's Hill radius is 0.0023, the tightest trans-Neptunian binary with a known orbit.

Physical characteristics

The mass of the system is, with Actaea constituting perhaps 4% of this.[1] Actaea is magnitudes fainter than Salacia, implying a diameter ratio of 2.98 for equal albedos.[7] Hence, assuming equal albedos, it has a diameter of .[1] Actaea has the same color as Salacia (V−I = and, respectively), supporting the assumption of equal albedos.[7] It has been calculated that the Salacia system should have undergone enough tidal evolution to circularize their orbits, which is consistent with the low measured eccentricity, but that the primary need not be tidally locked.[7] Salacia and Actaea will next occult each other in 2067.[7]

Notes and References

  1. Mutual Orbit Orientations of Transneptunian Binaries . W. M. . Grundy . K. S. . Noll . H. G. . Roe . M. W. . Buie . S. B. . Porter . A. H. . Parker . D. . Nesvorný . S. D. . Benecchi . D. C. . Stephens . C. A. . Trujillo . Icarus . 334 . 62–78 . 2019 . 10.1016/j.icarus.2019.03.035 . 2019Icar..334...62G . 133585837 . 0019-1035 . 26 October 2019 .
  2. Brown . Michael E. . Butler . Bryan J. . Medium-sized satellites of large Kuiper belt objects . The Astronomical Journal . 18 September 2018 . 156 . 4 . 164 . 10.3847/1538-3881/aad9f2 . 1801.07221 . 2018AJ....156..164B . 119343798 . free .
  3. Sickafoose . A. A. . Bosh . A. S. . Levine . S. E. . Zuluaga . C. A. . Genade . A. . Schindler . K. . Lister . T. A. . Person . M. J. . A stellar occultation by Vanth, a satellite of (90482) Orcus . Icarus . 1 February 2019 . 319 . 657–668 . 10.1016/j.icarus.2018.10.016 . 1810.08977 . 2019Icar..319..657S . 119099266 .
  4. Grundy . W.M. . Porter . S.B. . Benecchi . S.D. . Roe . H.G. . Noll . K.S. . Trujillo . C.A. . Thirouin . A. . Stansberry . J.A. . Barker . E. . Levison . H.F. . The mutual orbit, mass, and density of the large transneptunian binary system Varda and Ilmarë . Icarus . September 2015 . 257 . 130–138 . 10.1016/j.icarus.2015.04.036 . 1505.00510 . 2015Icar..257..130G . 44546400 .
  5. Web site: IAUC 8751: (120347) 2004 SB_60; 2006gi, 2006gj; V733 Cep . Cbat.eps.harvard.edu . 14 June 2014 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20131203012326/http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/iauc/08700/08751.html . 3 December 2013 .
  6. http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/astro/astmoons/am-120347.html Johnston Archive: (120347) Salacia and Actaea
  7. Physical Properties of Trans-Neptunian Binaries (120347) Salacia–Actaea and (42355) Typhon–Echidna . Icarus . 219 . 676–688 . J.A. . Stansberry . W.M. . Grundy . M. . Mueller . 2 . etal . 2012 . 10.1.1.398.6675 . 10.1016/j.icarus.2012.03.029 . 2012Icar..219..676S .