It was discovered on 7 November 1978, by American astronomers Eleanor Helin and Schelte Bus at Palomar Observatory in California.
[1] The D-type asteroid belongs to the 100 largest Jupiter trojans and has a rotation period of 11.3 hours.
[3] Laocoon resides in the Trojan camp of Jupiter's L5 Lagrangian point, which lies 60° behind the gas giant's orbit.
[9][10][11] In April 1996, Laocoon was observed by Italian astronomer Stefano Mottola using the now decommissioned Bochum 0.61-metre Telescope at ESO's La Silla Observatory in Chile.
He and both his sons were killed by serpents sent by the gods because he tried to expose the Greek's deception of the Trojan Horse.