86 Semele is a large and very dark main-beltasteroid with an orbital period of 5.5 years. It is rotating with a period of 16.6 hours, and varies in magnitude by 0.13 during each cycle.[4] This object is classified as a C-type asteroid and is probably composed of carbonates.
The orbit of 86 Semele places it in a 13:6 mean motion resonance with the planet Jupiter. The computed Lyapunov time for this asteroid is only 6,000 years, indicating that it occupies a chaotic orbit that will change randomly over time because of gravitational perturbations of the planets. This Lyapunov time is the second lowest among the first 100 named minor planets.[7]
^ abPilcher, Frederick (July 2020). "Lightcurves and Rotation Periods of 83 Beatrix, 86 Semele, 118 Peitho 153 Hilda, 527 Euryanthe, and 549 Jessonda". Bulletin of the Minor Planets Section of the Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers. 47 (3): 192–195. Bibcode:2020MPBu...47..192P.
^Šidlichovský, M. (1999), Svoren, J.; Pittich, E. M.; Rickman, H. (eds.), "Resonances and chaos in the asteroid belt", Evolution and source regions of asteroids and comets : proceedings of the 173rd colloquium of the International Astronomical Union, held in Tatranska Lomnica, Slovak Republic, 24-28 August 1998, pp. 297–308, Bibcode:1999esra.conf..297S.
