1011 Laodamia

Laodamia (minor planet designation: 1011 Laodamia), provisional designation, is a stony asteroid and sizable Mars-crosser near the innermost regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 7.5 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 5 January 1924, by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory in southwest Germany. The asteroid was named after Laodamia from Greek mythology.

Orbit and classification
Laodamia is a Mars-crossing asteroid, a dynamically unstable group between the main belt and the near-Earth populations, crossing the orbit of Mars at 1.666 AU. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 1.6–3.2 AU once every 3 years and 8 months (1,352 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.35 and an inclination of 5° with respect to the ecliptic.

The body's observation arc begins 15 years after its official discovery observation with its identification at Turku Observatory in March 1939. On 5 September 2083, it will pass 0.06186 AU from Mars.

Physical characteristics
In the Tholen classification, Laodamia is a stony S-type asteroid, while in the SMASS taxonomy, it is a transitional type between the stony S-type and rare R-type asteroids.

Rotation period and spin axis
In March 2002, a rotational lightcurve of Laodamia was obtained from photometric observations by French amateur astronomers Laurent Bernasconi and Silvano Casulli. Lightcurve analysis gave a well-defined rotation period of 5.17247 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.44 magnitude (U=3). Two other lightcurve gave a concurring period of 5.17 and 5.175 hours, respectively (U=2+/3).

Photometry taken at the Rozhen Observatory over a period of more than a decade allowed to model the asteroid's shape and gave two spin axis of (95.0°, −85.5°) and (272.0°, −88.0°) in ecliptic coordinates (λ, β) (U=n.a.).

Diameter and albedo
According to the survey carried out by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer and its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Laodamia measures 7.56 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.248, while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link adopts an albedo of 0.259 and derives a diameter of 7.39 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 12.74.

This makes Laodamia one of the largest mid-sized Mars-crossing asteroids comparable with 1065 Amundsenia (9.75 km), 1139 Atami (9.35 km), 1474 Beira (14.9 km), 1727 Mette (5.44 km), 1131 Porzia (7.13 km), 1235 Schorria (5.55 km), 985 Rosina (8.18 km), 1310 Villigera (15.24 km) and 1468 Zomba (7 km), but far smaller than the largest members of this dynamical group, namely, 132 Aethra, 323 Brucia, 1508 Kemi, 2204 Lyyli and 512 Taurinensis, which are all larger than 20 kilometers in diameter.

Naming
This minor planet was named after Laodamia from Greek mythology. The asteroid's name was proposed by Russian astronomer Nikolaj Vasil'evich Komendantov (RI 740), see .

The name either refers to the daughter of Akastos, who was the wife of Protesilaos, see , and killed in the Trojan War, as narrated by Euripides, see . It may also refer to the daughter of Bellerophon, see  and the wife of Sarpedon, see . She was killed by the arrows of Artemis, see . (Source of name researched by the author of the Dictionary of Minor Planet Names, Lutz D. Schmadel).