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Register a new userPhotometry of selected outer main belt asteroids
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We present new photometric observations for twelve asteroids ((122) Gerda, (152) Atala, (260) Huberta, (665) Sabine, (692) Hippodamia, (723) Hammonia, (745) Mauritia, (768) Struveana, (863) Benkoela, (1113) Katja, (1175) Margo, (2057) Rosemary) from the outer part of the main belt aimed to obtain the magnitude-phase curves and to verify geometric albedo and taxonomic class based on their magnitude-phase behaviors. The measured magnitude-phase relations confirm previously determined composition types of (260) Huberta (C-type), (692) Hippodamia (S-type) and (1175) Margo (S-type). Asteroids (665) Sabine and (768) Struveana previously classified as X-type show phase-curve behavior typical for moderate-albedo asteroids and may belong to the M-type. The phase-curve of (723) Hammonia is typical for the S-type which contradicts the previously determined C-type. We confirmed the moderate-albedo of asteroids (122) Gerda and (152) Atala, but their phase-curves are different from typical for the S-type and may indicate more rare compositional types. Based on magnitude-phase behaviors and V-R colors, (2057) Rosemary most probably belongs to M-type, while asteroids (745) Mauritia and (1113) Katja belong to S-complex. The phase curve of the A-type asteroid (863) Benkoela does not cover the opposition effect range and further observations are needed to understand typical features of the phase-curves of A-type asteroids in comparison with other types. We have also determined lightcurve amplitudes of the observed asteroids and obtained new or improved values of the rotation periods for most of them.
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Context. A lot of photometric data is produced by surveys such as Pan-STARRS, LONEOS, WISE or Catalina. These data are a rich source of information about the physical properties of asteroids. There are several possible approaches for utilizing these data. Lightcurve inversion is a typical method that works with individual asteroids. Our approach in this paper is statistical when we focused on large groups of asteroids like dynamical families and taxonomic classes, and the data were not sufficient for individual models. Aims. Our aim was to study the distributions of shape elongation $b/a$ and the spin axis latitude $beta$ for various subpopulations of asteroids and to compare our results, based on Pan-STARRS1 survey, with statistics previously done using different photometric data (Lowell database, WISE data). Methods. We use the LEADER algorithm to compare the $b/a$ and $beta$ distributions for different subpopulations of asteroids. The algorithm creates a cumulative distributive function (CDF) of observed brightness variations, and computes the $b/a$ and $beta$ distributions using analytical basis functions that yield the observed CDF. A variant of LEADER is used to solve the joint distributions for synthetic populations to test the validity of the method. Results. When comparing distributions of shape elongation for groups of asteroids with different diameters $D$, we found that there are no differences for $D < 25$ km. We also constructed distributions for asteroids with different rotation periods and revealed that the fastest rotators with $P = 0 - 4$ h are more spheroidal than the population with $P = 4 - 8$ h.
We present the K2 light curves of a large sample of untargeted Main Belt asteroids (MBAs) detected with the Kepler space telescope. The asteroids were observed within the Uranus superstamp, a relatively large, continuous field with low stellar background designed to cover the planet Uranus and its moons during Campaign 8 of the K2 mission. The superstamp offered the possibility to obtain precise, uninterrupted light curves of a large number of MBAs and thus to determine unambiguous rotation rates for them. We obtained photometry for 608 MBAs, and were able to determine or estimate rotation rates for 90 targets, of which 86 had no known values before. In an additional 16 targets we detected incomplete cycles and/or eclipse-like events. We found the median rotation rate to be significantly longer than that of the ground-based observations indicating that the latter are biased towards shorter rotation rates. Our study highlights the need and benefits of further continuous photometry of asteroids.
We present revised near-infrared albedo fits of 2835 Main Belt asteroids observed by WISE/NEOWISE over the course of its fully cryogenic survey in 2010. These fits are derived from reflected-light near-infrared images taken simultaneously with thermal emission measurements, allowing for more accurate measurements of the near-infrared albedos than is possible for visible albedo measurements. As our sample requires reflected light measurements, it undersamples small, low albedo asteroids, as well as those with blue spectral slopes across the wavelengths investigated. We find that the Main Belt separates into three distinct groups of 6%, 16%, and 40% reflectance at 3.4 um. Conversely, the 4.6 um albedo distribution spans the full range of possible values with no clear grouping. Asteroid families show a narrow distribution of 3.4 um albedos within each family that map to one of the three observed groupings, with the (221) Eos family being the sole family associated with the 16% reflectance 3.4 um albedo group. We show that near-infrared albedos derived from simultaneous thermal emission and reflected light measurements are an important indicator of asteroid taxonomy and can identify interesting targets for spectroscopic followup.
Unlike NASAs original Kepler Discovery Mission, the renewed K2 Mission will stare at the plane of the Ecliptic, observing each field for approximately 75 days. This will bring new opportunities and challenges, in particular the presence of a large number of main-belt asteroids that will contaminate the photometry. The large pixel size makes K2 data susceptible to the effect of apparent minor planet encounters. Here we investigate the effects of asteroid encounters on photometric precision using a sub-sample of the K2 Engineering data taken in February, 2014. We show examples of asteroid contamination to facilitate their recognition and distinguish these events from other error sources. We conclude that main-belt asteroids will have considerable effects on K2 photometry of a large number of photometric targets during the Mission, that will have to be taken into account. These results will be readily applicable for future space photometric missions applying large-format CCDs, such as TESS and PLATO.
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey provides colors for more than 100 000 moving objects, among which around 10 000 have albedos determined. Here we combined colors and albedo in order to perform a cluster analysis on the small bodies population, and identify a C-cluster, a group of asteroid related to C-type as defined in earlier work. Members of this C-cluster are in fair agreement with the color boundaries of B and C-type defined in DeMeo and Carry (2013). We then compare colors of C-cluster asteroids to those of carbonaceous chondrites powders, while taking into account the effect of phase angle. We show that only CM chondrites have colors in the range of C-cluster asteroids, CO, CR and CV chondrites being significantly redder. Also, CM chondrites powders are on average slightly redder than the average C-cluster. The colors of C-cluster members are further investigated by looking at color variations as a function of asteroid diameter. We observe that the visible slope becomes bluer with decreasing asteroids diameter, and a transition seems to be present around 20 km. We discuss the origin of this variation and, if not related to a bias in the dataset - analysis, we conclude that it is related to the surface texture of the objects, smaller objects being covered by rocks, while larger objects are covered by a particulate surface. The blueing is interpreted by an increased contribution of the first reflection in the case of rock-dominated surfaces, which can scatter light in a Rayleigh-like manner. We do not have unambiguous evidence of space weathering within the C-cluster based on this analysis, however the generally bluer nature of C-cluster objects compared to CM chondrites could be to some extent related to space weathering.
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