Regoliths on small asteroids: Testing hypotheses with Spitzer

Details Regoliths on small asteroids: Testing hypotheses with Spitzer Regoliths on small asteroids: Testing hypotheses with Spitzer

May 2007

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007sptz.prop40964t&link_type=abstract

Spitzer Proposal ID #40964

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Scientific paper

Two recent papers suggest, based on indirect evidence that bodies smaller than 5 km may on average be nearly devoid of regolith. If true, the physical properties of the most numerous population of objects in the Solar System (sub-km asteroids) will be revealed, and the solution to a long-standing problem in planetary science will be at hand. The Spitzer Space Telescope can be used to show conclusively whether or not these small asteroids are indeed devoid of regolith. We propose to observe 60 asteroids to test for the absence of regolith at sizes smaller than 5 km. Half of these asteroids have sizes near 10 km, and the other half have sizes near 1 km. We will use the power of Spitzer Peak-Up Imaging to derive the average thermal inertias for the two populations. If the predictions are correct, the thermal inertias should be significantly different. The results of this program will reveal a fundamental physical property of asteroids and help answer the long-outstanding ``S asteroid'' problem.

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