Radar Imaging and a Physical Model of Binary Asteroid 65803 Didymos

Details Radar Imaging and a Physical Model of Binary Asteroid 65803 Didymos Radar Imaging and a Physical Model of Binary Asteroid 65803 Didymos

Oct 2010

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010dps....42.1317b&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #42, #13.17; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 42, p.1056

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

5

Scientific paper

We report Arecibo (2380 MHz, 13 cm) and Goldstone (8560 MHz, 3.5 cm) delay-Doppler radar observations of binary near-Earth asteroid (NEA) 65803 Didymos (1996 GT) obtained on five dates between November 14-26, 2003 during the asteroid's approach within 0.048 AU. The images achieve resolutions as fine as 15 m in range and place hundreds of pixels on the primary. The images and preliminary shape modeling indicate that the primary is about 800 m in diameter, that it has a slightly asymmetric and oblate shape resembling the one found for the primary of 1999 KW4, and that it has a prominent facet about 300 m in extent along the ridge. The S-band circular polarization ratio of the primary averages 0.22+-0.02 and indicates that its near-surface is somewhat less rugged at decimeter spatial scales than the surfaces of 433 Eros or 25143 Itokawa. The secondary is roughly 150 m in diameter and its delay-Doppler signature is consistent with rotation that is synchronous with the 11.9-h orbital period reported by Pravec et al. (2006, Icarus 181, 63-93). Preliminary orbital fits give a semimajor axis of about 1.2 km and an orbital period of 11.9 h that is consistent with the one estimated from photometry; together they provide a first-order estimate of 2 g/cm3 for the bulk density of the system.

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