Origin of the Near-Earth Asteroid Phaethon and the Geminids Meteor Shower
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The Recent Breakup of an Asteroid in the Main-Belt Region
letters to nature .............................................................. (see Methods section). The recent breakup of an asteroid in The orbital distribution of the 39-body cluster is diagonally shaped in (a P, e P), and appears to fit inside one of the similarly the main-belt region shaped ‘equivelocity’ ellipses shown in Fig. 1. To create these ellipses, we launched test bodies isotropically from the centre of David Nesvorny´, William F. Bottke Jr, Luke Dones & Harold F. Levison the cluster (presumably the impact site) at a selected velocity impulse dV. Using Gauss’s equations (see, for example, ref. 14), Southwest Research Institute, 1050 Walnut St, Suite 426, Boulder, Colorado we then computed the change in their proper elements (da P, de P, 80302, USA diP). To determine the size, shape and orientation of the ellipses, we ............................................................................................................................................................................. experimented with various values of Vmax, the maximum velocity The present population of asteroids in the main belt is largely the 1,2 among our test bodies, the true anomaly f of the parent body (that result of many past collisions . Ideally, the asteroid fragments is, the angle between the parent body’s location and the perihelion resulting from each impact event could help us understand the of its orbit) and the parent body’s perihelion argument q at the large-scale collisions that shaped the planets during early instant of the impact (that is, the angle between the perihelion and epochs3–5. Most known asteroid fragment families, however, are the ascending node). very old and have therefore undergone significant collisional and We found that ellipsoids having V < 15 m s21, dynamical evolution since their formation6. -
The Minor Planet Bulletin
THE MINOR PLANET BULLETIN OF THE MINOR PLANETS SECTION OF THE BULLETIN ASSOCIATION OF LUNAR AND PLANETARY OBSERVERS VOLUME 36, NUMBER 3, A.D. 2009 JULY-SEPTEMBER 77. PHOTOMETRIC MEASUREMENTS OF 343 OSTARA Our data can be obtained from http://www.uwec.edu/physics/ AND OTHER ASTEROIDS AT HOBBS OBSERVATORY asteroid/. Lyle Ford, George Stecher, Kayla Lorenzen, and Cole Cook Acknowledgements Department of Physics and Astronomy University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire We thank the Theodore Dunham Fund for Astrophysics, the Eau Claire, WI 54702-4004 National Science Foundation (award number 0519006), the [email protected] University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Office of Research and Sponsored Programs, and the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire (Received: 2009 Feb 11) Blugold Fellow and McNair programs for financial support. References We observed 343 Ostara on 2008 October 4 and obtained R and V standard magnitudes. The period was Binzel, R.P. (1987). “A Photoelectric Survey of 130 Asteroids”, found to be significantly greater than the previously Icarus 72, 135-208. reported value of 6.42 hours. Measurements of 2660 Wasserman and (17010) 1999 CQ72 made on 2008 Stecher, G.J., Ford, L.A., and Elbert, J.D. (1999). “Equipping a March 25 are also reported. 0.6 Meter Alt-Azimuth Telescope for Photometry”, IAPPP Comm, 76, 68-74. We made R band and V band photometric measurements of 343 Warner, B.D. (2006). A Practical Guide to Lightcurve Photometry Ostara on 2008 October 4 using the 0.6 m “Air Force” Telescope and Analysis. Springer, New York, NY. located at Hobbs Observatory (MPC code 750) near Fall Creek, Wisconsin. -
Near-Infrared Observations of Active Asteroid (3200) Phaethon Reveal No Evidence for Hydration ✉ Driss Takir 1,7 , Theodore Kareta 2, Joshua P
ARTICLE https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-15637-7 OPEN Near-infrared observations of active asteroid (3200) Phaethon reveal no evidence for hydration ✉ Driss Takir 1,7 , Theodore Kareta 2, Joshua P. Emery3, Josef Hanuš 4, Vishnu Reddy2, Ellen S. Howell2, Andrew S. Rivkin5 & Tomoko Arai6 Asteroid (3200) Phaethon is an active near-Earth asteroid and the parent body of the Geminid Meteor Shower. Because of its small perihelion distance, Phaethon’s surface reaches 1234567890():,; temperatures sufficient to destabilize hydrated materials. We conducted rotationally resolved spectroscopic observations of this asteroid, mostly covering the northern hemisphere and the equatorial region, beyond 2.5-µm to search for evidence of hydration on its surface. Here we show that the observed part of Phaethon does not exhibit the 3-µm hydrated mineral absorption (within 2σ). These observations suggest that Phaethon’s modern activity is not due to volatile sublimation or devolatilization of phyllosilicates on its surface. It is possible that the observed part of Phaethon was originally hydrated and has since lost volatiles from its surface via dehydration, supporting its connection to the Pallas family, or it was formed from anhydrous material. 1 JETS/ARES, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX 77058-3696, USA. 2 Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721- 0092, USA. 3 Department of Astronomy and Planetary Sciences, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA. 4 Institute of Astronomy, Charles University, CZ-18000 Prague 8, Czech Republic. 5 Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD 20273, USA. 6 Planetary Exploration Research Center, Chiba Institute of Technology, Narashino, Japan. -
The Solar System
5 The Solar System R. Lynne Jones, Steven R. Chesley, Paul A. Abell, Michael E. Brown, Josef Durech,ˇ Yanga R. Fern´andez,Alan W. Harris, Matt J. Holman, Zeljkoˇ Ivezi´c,R. Jedicke, Mikko Kaasalainen, Nathan A. Kaib, Zoran Kneˇzevi´c,Andrea Milani, Alex Parker, Stephen T. Ridgway, David E. Trilling, Bojan Vrˇsnak LSST will provide huge advances in our knowledge of millions of astronomical objects “close to home’”– the small bodies in our Solar System. Previous studies of these small bodies have led to dramatic changes in our understanding of the process of planet formation and evolution, and the relationship between our Solar System and other systems. Beyond providing asteroid targets for space missions or igniting popular interest in observing a new comet or learning about a new distant icy dwarf planet, these small bodies also serve as large populations of “test particles,” recording the dynamical history of the giant planets, revealing the nature of the Solar System impactor population over time, and illustrating the size distributions of planetesimals, which were the building blocks of planets. In this chapter, a brief introduction to the different populations of small bodies in the Solar System (§ 5.1) is followed by a summary of the number of objects of each population that LSST is expected to find (§ 5.2). Some of the Solar System science that LSST will address is presented through the rest of the chapter, starting with the insights into planetary formation and evolution gained through the small body population orbital distributions (§ 5.3). The effects of collisional evolution in the Main Belt and Kuiper Belt are discussed in the next two sections, along with the implications for the determination of the size distribution in the Main Belt (§ 5.4) and possibilities for identifying wide binaries and understanding the environment in the early outer Solar System in § 5.5. -
Color Study of Asteroid Families Within the MOVIS Catalog David Morate1,2, Javier Licandro1,2, Marcel Popescu1,2,3, and Julia De León1,2
A&A 617, A72 (2018) Astronomy https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201832780 & © ESO 2018 Astrophysics Color study of asteroid families within the MOVIS catalog David Morate1,2, Javier Licandro1,2, Marcel Popescu1,2,3, and Julia de León1,2 1 Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), C/Vía Láctea s/n, 38205 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain e-mail: [email protected] 2 Departamento de Astrofísica, Universidad de La Laguna, 38205 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain 3 Astronomical Institute of the Romanian Academy, 5 Cu¸titulde Argint, 040557 Bucharest, Romania Received 6 February 2018 / Accepted 13 March 2018 ABSTRACT The aim of this work is to study the compositional diversity of asteroid families based on their near-infrared colors, using the data within the MOVIS catalog. As of 2017, this catalog presents data for 53 436 asteroids observed in at least two near-infrared filters (Y, J, H, or Ks). Among these asteroids, we find information for 6299 belonging to collisional families with both Y J and J Ks colors defined. The work presented here complements the data from SDSS and NEOWISE, and allows a detailed description− of− the overall composition of asteroid families. We derived a near-infrared parameter, the ML∗, that allows us to distinguish between four generic compositions: two different primitive groups (P1 and P2), a rocky population, and basaltic asteroids. We conducted statistical tests comparing the families in the MOVIS catalog with the theoretical distributions derived from our ML∗ in order to classify them according to the above-mentioned groups. We also studied the background populations in order to check how similar they are to their associated families. -
Asteroid Family Identification 613
Bendjoya and Zappalà: Asteroid Family Identification 613 Asteroid Family Identification Ph. Bendjoya University of Nice V. Zappalà Astronomical Observatory of Torino Asteroid families have long been known to exist, although only recently has the availability of new reliable statistical techniques made it possible to identify a number of very “robust” groupings. These results have laid the foundation for modern physical studies of families, thought to be the direct result of energetic collisional events. A short summary of the current state of affairs in the field of family identification is given, including a list of the most reliable families currently known. Some likely future developments are also discussed. 1. INTRODUCTION calibrate new identification methods. According to the origi- nal papers published in the literature, Brouwer (1951) used The term “asteroid families” is historically linked to the a fairly subjective criterion to subdivide the Flora family name of the Japanese researcher Kiyotsugu Hirayama, who delineated by Hirayama. Arnold (1969) assumed that the was the first to use the concept of orbital proper elements to asteroids are dispersed in the proper-element space in a identify groupings of asteroids characterized by nearly iden- Poisson distribution. Lindblad and Southworth (1971) cali- tical orbits (Hirayama, 1918, 1928, 1933). In interpreting brated their method in such a way as to find good agree- these results, Hirayama made the hypothesis that such a ment with Brouwer’s results. Carusi and Massaro (1978) proximity could not be due to chance and proposed a com- adjusted their method in order to again find the classical mon origin for the members of these groupings. -
Aas 14-267 Design of End-To-End Trojan Asteroid
AAS 14-267 DESIGN OF END-TO-END TROJAN ASTEROID RENDEZVOUS TOURS INCORPORATING POTENTIAL SCIENTIFIC VALUE Jeffrey Stuart,∗ Kathleen Howell,y and Roby Wilsonz The Sun-Jupiter Trojan asteroids are celestial bodies of great scientific interest as well as potential natural assets offering mineral resources for long-term human exploration of the solar system. Previous investigations have addressed the auto- mated design of tours within the asteroid swarm and the transition of prospective tours to higher-fidelity, end-to-end trajectories. The current development incorpo- rates the route-finding Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) algorithm into the auto- mated tour generation procedure. Furthermore, the potential scientific merit of the target asteroids is incorporated such that encounters with higher value asteroids are preferentially incorporated during sequence creation. INTRODUCTION Near Earth Objects (NEOs) are currently under consideration for manned sample return mis- sions,1 while a recent NASA feasibility assessment concludes that a mission to the Trojan asteroids can be accomplished at a projected cost of less than $900M in fiscal year 2015 dollars.2 Tour concepts within asteroid swarms allow for a broad sampling of interesting target bodies either for scientific investigation or as potential resources to support deep-space human missions. However, the multitude of asteroids within the swarms necessitates the use of automated design algorithms if a large number of potential mission options are to be surveyed. Previously, a process to automatically and rapidly generate sample tours within the Sun-Jupiter L4 Trojan asteroid swarm with a mini- mum of human interaction has been developed.3 This scheme also enables the automated transition of tours of interest into fully optimized, end-to-end trajectories using a variety of electrical power sources.4,5 This investigation extends the automated algorithm to use ant colony optimization, a heuristic search algorithm, while simultaneously incorporating a relative ‘scientific importance’ ranking into tour construction and analysis. -
~XECKDING PAGE BLANK WT FIL,,Q
1,. ,-- ,-- ~XECKDING PAGE BLANK WT FIL,,q DYNAMICAL EVIDENCE REGARDING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ASTEROIDS AND METEORITES GEORGE W. WETHERILL Department of Temcltricrl kgnetism ~amregie~mtittition of Washington Washington, D. C. 20025 Meteorites are fragments of small solar system bodies (comets, asteroids and Apollo objects). Therefore they may be expected to provide valuable information regarding these bodies. How- ever, the identification of particular classes of meteorites with particular small bodies or classes of small bodies is at present uncertain. It is very unlikely that any significant quantity of meteoritic material is obtained from typical ac- tive comets. Relatively we1 1-studied dynamical mechanisms exist for transferring material into the vicinity of the Earth from the inner edge of the asteroid belt on an 210~-~year time scale. It seems likely that most iron meteorites are obtained in this way, and a significant yield of complementary differec- tiated meteoritic silicate material may be expected to accom- pany these differentiated iron meteorites. Insofar as data exist, photometric measurements support an association between Apollo objects and chondri tic meteorites. Because Apol lo ob- jects are in orbits which come close to the Earth, and also must be fragmented as they traverse the asteroid belt near aphel ion, there also must be a component of the meteorite flux derived from Apollo objects. Dynamical arguments favor the hypothesis that most Apollo objects are devolatilized comet resiaues. However, plausible dynamical , petrographic, and cosmogonical reasons are known which argue against the simple conclusion of this syllogism, uiz., that chondri tes are of cometary origin. Suggestions are given for future theoretical , observational, experimental investigations directed toward improving our understanding of this puzzling situation. -
Deep Space Chronicle Deep Space Chronicle: a Chronology of Deep Space and Planetary Probes, 1958–2000 | Asifa
dsc_cover (Converted)-1 8/6/02 10:33 AM Page 1 Deep Space Chronicle Deep Space Chronicle: A Chronology ofDeep Space and Planetary Probes, 1958–2000 |Asif A.Siddiqi National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA SP-2002-4524 A Chronology of Deep Space and Planetary Probes 1958–2000 Asif A. Siddiqi NASA SP-2002-4524 Monographs in Aerospace History Number 24 dsc_cover (Converted)-1 8/6/02 10:33 AM Page 2 Cover photo: A montage of planetary images taken by Mariner 10, the Mars Global Surveyor Orbiter, Voyager 1, and Voyager 2, all managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. Included (from top to bottom) are images of Mercury, Venus, Earth (and Moon), Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. The inner planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth and its Moon, and Mars) and the outer planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune) are roughly to scale to each other. NASA SP-2002-4524 Deep Space Chronicle A Chronology of Deep Space and Planetary Probes 1958–2000 ASIF A. SIDDIQI Monographs in Aerospace History Number 24 June 2002 National Aeronautics and Space Administration Office of External Relations NASA History Office Washington, DC 20546-0001 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Siddiqi, Asif A., 1966 Deep space chronicle: a chronology of deep space and planetary probes, 1958-2000 / by Asif A. Siddiqi. p.cm. – (Monographs in aerospace history; no. 24) (NASA SP; 2002-4524) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Space flight—History—20th century. I. Title. II. Series. III. NASA SP; 4524 TL 790.S53 2002 629.4’1’0904—dc21 2001044012 Table of Contents Foreword by Roger D. -
Widespread Water Among Primitive Asteroid Families: New Insights from the Main Belt Comets
EPSC Abstracts Vol. 13, EPSC-DPS2019-892-1, 2019 EPSC-DPS Joint Meeting 2019 c Author(s) 2019. CC Attribution 4.0 license. Widespread water among primitive asteroid families: new insights from the main belt comets Bojan Novakovic´ (1) and Henry Hsieh (2,3) (1) University of Belgrade, Serbia, (2) Planetary Science Institute, USA, (3) Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Taiwan, ([email protected]) Abstract The obtained results are summarized in Table 1. For the first time we found active asteroids associated to We present new results regarding the association of the Pallas and Luthera families, namely P/2017 S8 and main belt comets to asteroid families. We find three P/2019 A7, respectively. new firm links, and three potential associations. These results further strengthen the link between the main Table 1: A list of asteroid family associations of newly belt comets and compositionally primitive asteroid discovered main belt comet candidates. families. MBC candidate Family 1. Introduction P/2016 P1 (PANSTARRS) Euphrosyne? P/2017 S8 (PANSTARRS) Pallas Main belt comets (MBCs) are a subgroup of active as- P/2017 S5 (PANSTARRS) Theobalda teroids, which exhibit visible mass loss activity yet P/2017 S9 (PANSTARRS) Theobalda? are dynamically asteroidal, for which it is believed P/2019 A3 (PANSTARRS) Theobalda? that observed activity is driven by the sublimation of P/2019 A4 (PANSTARRS) None? volatile ices [1, 2]. Our recent work has demonstrated P/2019 A7 (PANSTARRS) Luthera that all MBCs associated to collisional families be- P/2019 A8 (PANSTARRS) None? long to families with primitive taxonomic classifica- tions [3]. -
Aqueous Alteration on Main Belt Primitive Asteroids: Results from Visible Spectroscopy1
Aqueous alteration on main belt primitive asteroids: results from visible spectroscopy1 S. Fornasier1,2, C. Lantz1,2, M.A. Barucci1, M. Lazzarin3 1 LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, CNRS, UPMC Univ Paris 06, Univ. Paris Diderot, 5 Place J. Janssen, 92195 Meudon Pricipal Cedex, France 2 Univ. Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cit´e, 4 rue Elsa Morante, 75205 Paris Cedex 13 3 Department of Physics and Astronomy of the University of Padova, Via Marzolo 8 35131 Padova, Italy Submitted to Icarus: November 2013, accepted on 28 January 2014 e-mail: [email protected]; fax: +33145077144; phone: +33145077746 Manuscript pages: 38; Figures: 13 ; Tables: 5 Running head: Aqueous alteration on primitive asteroids Send correspondence to: Sonia Fornasier LESIA-Observatoire de Paris arXiv:1402.0175v1 [astro-ph.EP] 2 Feb 2014 Batiment 17 5, Place Jules Janssen 92195 Meudon Cedex France e-mail: [email protected] 1Based on observations carried out at the European Southern Observatory (ESO), La Silla, Chile, ESO proposals 062.S-0173 and 064.S-0205 (PI M. Lazzarin) Preprint submitted to Elsevier September 27, 2018 fax: +33145077144 phone: +33145077746 2 Aqueous alteration on main belt primitive asteroids: results from visible spectroscopy1 S. Fornasier1,2, C. Lantz1,2, M.A. Barucci1, M. Lazzarin3 Abstract This work focuses on the study of the aqueous alteration process which acted in the main belt and produced hydrated minerals on the altered asteroids. Hydrated minerals have been found mainly on Mars surface, on main belt primitive asteroids and possibly also on few TNOs. These materials have been produced by hydration of pristine anhydrous silicates during the aqueous alteration process, that, to be active, needed the presence of liquid water under low temperature conditions (below 320 K) to chemically alter the minerals. -
The Minor Planet Bulletin 37 (2010) 45 Classification for 244 Sita
THE MINOR PLANET BULLETIN OF THE MINOR PLANETS SECTION OF THE BULLETIN ASSOCIATION OF LUNAR AND PLANETARY OBSERVERS VOLUME 37, NUMBER 2, A.D. 2010 APRIL-JUNE 41. LIGHTCURVE AND PHASE CURVE OF 1130 SKULD Robinson (2009) from his data taken in 2002. There is no evidence of any change of (V-R) color with asteroid rotation. Robert K. Buchheim Altimira Observatory As a result of the relatively short period of this lightcurve, every 18 Altimira, Coto de Caza, CA 92679 (USA) night provided at least one minimum and maximum of the [email protected] lightcurve. The phase curve was determined by polling both the maximum and minimum points of each night’s lightcurve. Since (Received: 29 December) The lightcurve period of asteroid 1130 Skuld is confirmed to be P = 4.807 ± 0.002 h. Its phase curve is well-matched by a slope parameter G = 0.25 ±0.01 The 2009 October-November apparition of asteroid 1130 Skuld presented an excellent opportunity to measure its phase curve to very small solar phase angles. I devoted 13 nights over a two- month period to gathering photometric data on the object, over which time the solar phase angle ranged from α = 0.3 deg to α = 17.6 deg. All observations used Altimira Observatory’s 0.28-m Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope (SCT) working at f/6.3, SBIG ST- 8XE NABG CCD camera, and photometric V- and R-band filters. Exposure durations were 3 or 4 minutes with the SNR > 100 in all images, which were reduced with flat and dark frames.