Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
May 2007
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007aas...210.4202m&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society Meeting 210, #42.02; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 39, p.156
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
The goal of this project is to constrain the Main Belt distribution of asteroids with basaltic material on their surface. Candidate basaltic asteroids are selected to have SDSS photometric colors (Ivezic, Z. et al., 2002, SPIE, 4836, 98) suggestive of a V-type taxonomy and are then prioritized based on a statistical determination of how closely their colors coincide with those of the Vestoid dynamical family. Dynamical constraints are applied to ensure that our targets are not part of this family. Preliminary results of this spectroscopic survey, suggest that 100% of our highest priority candidates are V-type.
These criteria for the selection of basaltic candidates yield a distribution of objects across a range of semi-major axis. Correcting this distribution for the completeness of the SDSS as a function of semi-major axis and using the observed fraction of basaltic asteroids as determined by our survey, we calculate an unbiased distribution of basaltic asteroids throughout the Main Belt. This distribution can be compared with theory (Bottke, W.F. et al., 2006, Nature, 439, 821) to address whether partial melting and differentiation occurred within the Main Belt or whether these asteroids formed in the inner Solar System (where solid body accretion times were faster and thus greater internal temperatures were achieved) and later scatted outwards into stable Main Belt orbits.
The determination of a distribution of basaltic asteroids will be an important tool for extrapolating the number of differentiated parent bodies that were once present in the Main Belt. This ultimate result will have implications for addressing the discrepancy between the large number of differentiated parent bodies represented by iron meteorites and the few known occurrences of Main Belt differentiation.
This research is supported in part by NASA GSRP grant NNG04GL48G, P.I. E. Gaidos and NSF Planetary Astronomy grant AST04-07134, P.I. R. Jedicke.
Gaidos Eric
Jedicke Robert
Moskovitz Nicholas
Willman Mark
No associations
LandOfFree
The Main Belt Distribution of Basaltic Asteroids does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with The Main Belt Distribution of Basaltic Asteroids, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and The Main Belt Distribution of Basaltic Asteroids will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1030592