Hektor - Nature and origin of a binary asteroid

It is argued that the elongated single body model (Dunlap and Gehrels, 1969) which reproduces the rotational light curve of 624 Hektor is unstable with respect to binary fission. It is shown that a contact binary model with ellipsoidal components of equilibrium shape matches the observed amplitude. Hektor's bulk density is inferred to be about 2.5 g/cu cm.