[1] The possibly elongated Jovian asteroid belongs to the 100 largest Jupiter trojans and has a long rotation period of 40.1 hours.
[1] In the SDSS-based taxonomy, Lykaon is a dark D-type asteroid, the most common spectral type among the larger Jupiter trojans.
[8] In April 1996, a rotational lightcurve of Lykaon was obtained from a total of six nights of photometric observations by Italian astronomer Stefano Mottola, using the Bochum 0.61-metre Telescope at La Silla Observatory in northern Chile.
According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Lykaon measures 50.87 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.068,[7] while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for a carbonaceous asteroid of 0.057, and calculates a diameter of 53.16 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 10.1.
This minor planet was named by the discoverer from Greek mythology after the Trojan prince Lycaon, one of King Priam's many sons.