A New Family of Barbarian Asteroids Title CELLINO, A

Publication Year 2019 Acceptance in OA@INAF 2020-12-23T16:18:09Z Title Brangäne: a new family of Barbarian asteroids Authors CELLINO, Alberto; Bagnulo, S.; Tanga, P.; Devogèle, M.; Bendjoya, Ph; et al. DOI 10.1093/mnras/stz451 Handle http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12386/29172 Journal MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY Number 485 MNRAS 485, 570–576 (2019) doi:10.1093/mnras/stz451 Advance Access publication 2019 February 14 Brangane:¨ a new family of Barbarian asteroids 1‹ 2 3 4 3 2 A. Cellino , S. Bagnulo , P. Tanga, M. Devogele` , Ph. Bendjoya, E. Reilly, Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/485/1/570/5319141 by INAF Torino (Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino) user on 13 November 2020 J.-P. Rivet3 and F. Spoto3,5 1INAF - Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino, I-10025 Pino Torinese, Italy 2Armagh Observatory, College Hill, Armagh BT61 9DG, UK 3Observatoire de la Coteˆ d’Azur, UniversitedelaC´ oteˆ d’Azur, CNRS, Laboratoire Lagrange, 06304 Nice Cedex 4, France 4Lowell Observatory, 1400 West Mars Hill Road, Flagstaff, AZ 86001, USA 5IMCCE, Observatoire de Paris, 77 av. Denfert-Rochereau, F-75014 Paris, France Accepted 2019 February 11. Received 2019 February 8; in original form 2018 December 18 ABSTRACT The so-called Barbarian asteroids [from the name of the prototype of this class, asteroid (234) Barbara] are extremely interesting objects because they might be the survivors of a very early generation of planetesimals. We have identified in the past the first case of an asteroid family (the Watsonia family) whose members are Barbarians, all issued from the collisional disruption of a sizeable parent body. Here we report on the identification of another family, called after the name of its biggest member, asteroid (606) Brangane,¨ consisting of objects displaying the polarimetric properties characterizing the Barbarian behaviour. This is the first recognized case of a swarm of small Barbarians issued from a quite recent cratering event. Key words: polarization – minor planets, asteroids: general. conclusive evidence that all Barbarians, which had been previously 1 INTRODUCTION classified as members of different taxonomic classes based on their The discovery of an anomalous polarimetric behaviour of (234) reflectance spectra at visible wavelengths, once the properties of Barbara (Cellino et al. 2006) was the first recognition of the both the visible and near-IR regions of the reflectance spectrum are existence of a new class of asteroids (now commonly referred to taken into account, appear to belong to a unique taxonomic class: as the Barbarians) which are very interesting in many respects. the L class defined by DeMeo et al. (2009). Some of these objects are known to exhibit anomalous reflectance Devogele` et al. (2018) found that the spectra of L-class objects spectra, characterized by features that were interpreted by Burbine, can be successfully modelled using mixtures of the fluffy kind Gaffey & Bell (1992) and Sunshine et al. (2008) as diagnostic of spinel present in CAIs, MgO-rich olivine, and the mineral of a very high content of refractory compounds on their surfaces, compounds found in the matrix of CV3 meteorites. They also including primarily the aluminous spinel mineral (MgAl2O4). This found that the presence of CAIs is responsible for the anomalous is a major component of the so-called Calcium Aluminum-rich polarimetric inversion angle characterizing the Barbarians (for an Inclusions (CAI) found in some meteorites. With their ages around explanation of this and other polarimetric parameters, see, for 4.567 Gyr, derived from isotopic abundances, CAIs are the oldest instance, Cellino, Belskaya & Gil-Hutton 2015). In particular, they samples of solid matter found in the Solar system. As pointed out pointed out the presence of a variation of the inversion angle of by Sunshine et al. (2008), CAIs are generally classified, on the asteroid (234) Barbara as a function of wavelength, and interpreted basis of petrography and geochemistry, into three major groups. it as a consequence of the known wavelength-dependent variation Among them, the so-called ‘fluffy type A’ (FTA), characterized of the refractive index of the spinel mineral. by a porous, strongly non-compact structure, is found in all Until a couple of years ago, it was not clear whether the properties chondritic meteorites, and produces a strong absorption feature in of Barbarians were determined by anomalous surface properties, or the reflectance spectrum, interpreted as a consequence of a high by structural composition. In this respect, a major step forward has concentration of FeO-rich spinel. It is also believed that, as opposite been the discovery by means of polarimetric measurements that the to the other types of CAIs, FTAs may never have been totally melted Watsonia asteroid family (Novakovic,´ Cellino & Knezeviˇ c´ 2011) by any transient heating event after their formation. consists of Barbarian objects (Cellino et al. 2014). The most extensive analysis of objects belonging to the Barbarian Asteroid families are groups of objects issued by the col- class, based on both spectroscopic and polarimetric data, has been lisional disruption of single parent bodies. The fact that the recently published by Devogele` et al. (2018). These authors found members of the Watsonia family are Barbarians strongly sug- gests that the Barbarian properties are not purely surface effects, because the members of the same family derive from material E-mail: [email protected] located at different depths inside the parent body. This was C 2019 The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society A new family of Barbarian asteroids 571 Table 1. Total number of currently recognized members of the Brangane¨ family, and the lower and upper limits of the intervals covered by its members in the space of the proper orbital elements semimajor axis, eccentricity, and sine of inclination. N. of Proper semimajor Proper Sine of proper Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/485/1/570/5319141 by INAF Torino (Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino) user on 13 November 2020 members axis (au) eccentricity inclination 325 2.571–2.597 0.178–0.183 0.165–0.168 Figure 2. The same as Fig. 1, but for the family of Watsonia, the only one previously identified family of Barbarians (Cellino et al. 2014). As shown by the morphology of its cumulative size distribution, the Watsonia family may suggest a more energetic disruption event, rather than a typical cratering event as in the case of the Brangane¨ family. observed by WISE were computed from the known relation linking the size to the absolute magnitude H and the geometric albedo pV: log (D) = 3, 1236 − 0.2 H − 0.5log(pV ) , (1) Figure 1. Cumulative size distribution of the Brangane¨ family. The typical trend characterized by a large difference in size between the largest member where D is the equivalent diameter in km. In the computations, and the rest of the family members clearly shows that the family is the the value of H was taken from the file listing the family members outcome of a cratering event. At sizes smaller than about 2 km the size available in the AstDys site. For the value of the geometric albedo pV distribution becomes shallower, an indication of incompleteness of the we adopted the NEOWISE-based average value of 0.116 mentioned recognized smallest members. above. The Brangane¨ family is the likely outcome of a cratering event. also the first discovery of Barbarian asteroids of relatively small This is suggested by the large difference in size between its largest sizes. member, (606) Brangane,¨ having an absolute magnitude H = 10.22 The main belt asteroid (606) Brangane,¨ about 40 km in size and an estimated size of about 36 km (Mainzer at al. 2016), and the (Mainzer at al. 2016), belongs to the L-class (DeMeo et al. 2009). rest of the family members. The latter have absolute magnitudes It is the biggest member of another family (Milani et al. 2014). generally fainter than 14, and sizes mostly below 5 km. In the cases Table 1 summarizes the main parameters of the Brangane¨ family of families issued from cratering events, the overall trend of the which, according to Spoto, Milani & Knezeviˇ c(´ 2015)istheresult cumulative size distribution tends to exhibit at the largest sizes a of a very recent cratering event (the age between 30 and 50 Myr characteristic concave trend (Tanga et al. 1999; Durda et al. 2007). being derived by the analysis of the ‘V-shaped’ diagram, see below) For a comparison, Fig. 2 shows the cumulative size distribution In this table, the data have been taken from the AstDys site,1 where of the Watsonia family. The morphology of the size distribution, a regularly updated list of members of asteroid families is publicly computed in exactly the same way as in the case of Brangane,¨ as available. explained above, is clearly different with respect to the case of The cumulative size distribution of the family is shown in Fig. 1. Brangane,¨ as it is not characterized by a big difference between the The sizes of the family members have been taken directly from the size of the largest member and those of the other biggest family NEOWISE catalogue (Mainzer at al. 2016), whenever available. The members. It can also be noted that in the case of Watsonia there is a same albedo data have been also used to derive the average albedo stronger depletion of objects at the low end of the size distribution. of the family, 0.116 ± 0.005, very similar to the geometric albedo of This can be partly due to observational bias, due to the fact that Brangane¨ itself (0.113 ± 0.021). The sizes of family members not the perihelion distances of the Brangane family are lower than those of Watsonia members, due to a non-negligible difference in orbital eccentricity.

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