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Near Infra-Red Spectroscopy of the Asteroid 21 Lutetia II

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Near Infra-Red Spectroscopy of the Asteroid 21 Lutetia II A&A 470, 1157–1164 (2007) Astronomy DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:20066944 & c ESO 2007 Astrophysics Near infra-red spectroscopy of the asteroid 21 Lutetia II. Rotationally resolved spectroscopy of the surface D. A. Nedelcu1,2, M. Birlan1, P. Vernazza3, P. Descamps1,R.P.Binzel4,F.Colas1, A. Kryszczynska5,andS.J.Bus6 1 Institut de Mécanique Céleste et de Calcul des Éphémérides (IMCCE), Observatoire de Paris, 77 avenue Denfert-Rochereau, 75014 Paris Cedex, France e-mail: [Mirel.Birlan;Pascal.Descamps;Francois.Colas]@imcce.fr 2 Astronomical Institute of the Romanian Academy, 5 Cu titul de Argint, 75212 Bucharest, Romania e-mail: [email protected] 3 LESIA, Observatoire de Paris-Meudon, 5 place Jules Janssen, 92195 Meudon Cedex, France e-mail: [email protected] 4 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge MA 02139, USA e-mail: [email protected] 5 Astronomical Observatory, Adam Mickiewicz University, Sloneczna 36, 60-286 Poznan, Poland e-mail: [email protected] 6 Institute for Astronomy, 640 North A’ohouku Place, Hilo, HI 96720, USA e-mail: [email protected] Received 15 December 2006 / Accepted 16 April 2007 ABSTRACT Aims. In the framework of the ground-based science campaign dedicated to the encounter with the Rosetta spacecraft, the mineralogy of the asteroid (21) Lutetia was investigated. Methods. Near-infrared (NIR) spectra of the asteroid in the 0.8−2.5 µm spectral range were obtained with SpeX/IRTF in remote observing mode from Meudon, France in March and April 2006. We analysed these data together with previously acquired spectra – March 2003, August 2004. I-band relative photometric data obtained on 20 January 2006 using the 105 cm telescope from Pic du Midi, France has been used to build the ephemeris for physical observations. A χ2 test using meteorite spectra from the RELAB database was performed in order to find the best fit of complete visible + infrared (VNIR) spectra of Lutetia. Results. The new spectra reveal no absorption features. We find a clear spectral variation (slope), and a good correspondence between spectral variations and rotational phase. Two of the most different spectra correspond to two opposite sides of the asteroid (sub-Earth longitude difference around 180◦). For the neutral spectra a carbonaceous chondrite spectrum yields the best fit, while for those with a slightly positive slope the enstatitic chondrite spectra are the best analog. Based on the chosen subset of the meteorite samples, our analysis suggests a primitive, chondritic nature for (21) Lutetia. Differences in spectra are interpreted in terms of the coexistence of several lithologies on the surface where the aqueous alteration played an important role. Key words. minor planets – asteroids – techniques: spectroscopic – methods: observational 1. Introduction (Magri et al. 1999). The taxonomy study of Howell et al. (1994) by means of 52-color survey data, using the neural network tech- The ESA’s flagship Rosetta spacecraft designed to investigate the nique, found that 21 Lutetia is more akin to the C-type asteroids comet 67P/Churyumov – Gerasimenko, successfully launched than to the M-tye ones. The albedo inferred from polarimetry on March 2nd 2004, will include two asteroid flybys – (2867) (Zellner et al. 1977; Lupishko & Mohamed 1996) has a low Steins on September 2008, and (21) Lutetia on July 2010. value around 0.1, far from the values derived in thermal domain. Located in the inner part of the main belt, in an orbit with low In the SMASSII feature-based taxonomy, Bus & Binzel (2002) eccentricity and inclination (a = 2.43489811, e = 0.16380387, assign Lutetia to the the newly proposed X -type considered as ◦ k i = 3.064298), (21) Lutetia is the largest body among the mis- intermediary between X-core type and K-type asteroids. ± sion’s targets. Its diameter was estimated at 98.3 5.9kmby More recent observations (Birlan et al. 2004, 2006) in the ± Mueller et al. (2006) and at 95.5 4.1 km by Tedesco et al. range 0.9−2.5 µm showed a flat spectrum with a shallow band (1992) which allows direct measurement of the mass and den- around 1 µm and an overall neutral trend similar with the sity using the on-board radio science experiment. CV3 meteorite Vigarano. Another important spectral region is Using ECAS data (Zellner et al. 1985), (21) Lutetia was clas- the 3 µm band, associated with the presence of hydrated min- sified by Barucci et al. (1987) and Tholen (1989) as an M-type erals to the asteroid surface. In the spectrophotometry survey because of its high IRAS albedo (0.221 ± 0.020) and was con- of M-type asteroids by Rivkin et al. (2000), (21) Lutetia re- sidered to have a metallic composition. Radio investigations of vealed a shallow absorption band in this region. This result was the asteroid show a low value of the radar albedo (0.17 ± 0.07), reinforced by spectroscopic investigations (Birlan et al. 2006) more typical to C-type rather than those of M-type asteroids adding evidence of a primitive surface composition. Article published by EDP Sciences and available at http://www.aanda.org or http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20066944 1158 D. A. Nedelcu et al.: Near infra-red spectroscopy of the asteroid 21 Lutetia Groundbased science results on (21) Lutetia bring forth some 1.5 P = 8.1655 h inconsistencies. The carbonaceous-chondrite analogy and the syn affinity for C-type remains incompatible with the high IRAS albedo value reconfirmed by Mueller et al. (2006) from thermal- 1.6 infrared spectrophotometric measurements and thermal model- ing (pV = 0.208 ± 0.025). Interestingly, Lazzarin et al. (2004) found in the 0.38−0.95 µm a rather flat spectrum unlike those 1.7 obtained by Bus (1999), Carvano et al. (2003), and Barucci et al. (2005) and two main absorption bands around 0.43 µm and 0.51 µm, features not reported before. Variegation of spec- 1.8 tral features with rotational phase and sub-Earth coordinates Relative I Magnitude was then proposed as an explanation for these contradictory re- sults. From series of spectra in the visible domain, Prokof’eva 1.9 et al. (2005) found a variation with rotational phase in the width of 0.43 µm band associated with hydrosilicates and explained Zero Phase at 2006 Jan 20.95 UT it as a heterogeneous distribution of hydrated materials on the 2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 surface of Lutetia. Rotational phase We present NIR spectra of the asteroid (21) Lutetia in the − / Fig. 1. Lightcurve of (21) Lutetia obtained at Pic du Midi in 0.8 2.5 µm spectral range obtained using SpeX IRTF instru- 20/21 January 2006. The 0 rotational phase was chosen to occur at ment/telescope in March and April 2006. Further, our latest JD = 2 453 756.45 and it determines the planetocentric prime merid- photometric observations in the visible region (I-filter) were ian of the asteroid used for the work presented here. The lightcurve has used to construct the physical ephemeris of (21) Lutetia. These an amplitude of 0m. 27 and presents two asymmetric minima. ephemerides allowed us to link our NIR spectra, obtained in the period 2003−2006, with their corresponding regions on the as- teroid surface. Finally, a comparison of our spectra with me- Having the ephemeris for physical observations of the as- teorites one (RELAB database) has been performed using the teroid build from i) the preferred pole solution, ii) the rotation χ2 fitting test. period and iii) the defined prime meridian, we can now estab- lish a link between the spectra and the geometry of the obser- vations. The eventual variations in the asteroids’s spectra could 2. Observations be linked not only with changes in the sub-Earth latitude, but also with differences in sub-Earth longitudes from one spectrum 2.1. Photometry to another. This effect is expected to be more important in the case of near-equatorial sub-Earth latitudes, than in the pole-on Partial and complete lightcurves of (21) Lutetia were reported configuration when almost the same surface is presented during by several authors (Zappala et al. 1984; Lupishko & Velichko asteroid’s rotation. 1987; Dotto et al. 1992; Lagerkvist et al. 1995) with amplitudes The error budget of this analysis is dominated by the un- ranging from 0.1 to 0.25 mag. Using the inversion method for 32 certainty in the spin vector orientation which equally affects lightcurves from 1962−1998 time interval, Torppa et al. (2003) both the planetocentric latitude and longitude. The second or- constructed a shape model of Lutetia with some sharp and ir- der largest contribution in the error arises from the estimation regular features and rough global dimensions of a/b = 1.2and of the ellipsoid flatness from the asteroid shape model axis ra- b/c = 1.2(wherea, b,andc are the semi-major axis of the ellip- tio (Torppa et al. 2003) and affects mainly the sub-Earth lati- soid figure, the closest to the shape model). The J2000.0 ecliptic tudes. However, we note that these two types of errors do not coordinates of the adopted pole solutions for physical model are ff ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ change the relative positions of the sub-Earth points for di erent λ1 = 39 ±10 , β1 = 3 ±10 and λ2 = 220 ±10 , β2 = 3 ±10 ; instances. It is only the error in determination of the rotation pe- the first solution is preferred to the second one (Mueller et al. riod that could significantly affect the computed sub-Earth longi- 2006 and references within). The rotational period inferred from tudes at time instances far from our current lightcurve origin.
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