3.2 mm lightcurve observations of (4) Vesta and (9) Metis with the Australia Telescope Compact Array

Details 3.2 mm lightcurve observations of (4) Vesta and (9) Metis with the Australia Telescope Compact Array 3.2 mm lightcurve observations of (4) Vesta and (9) Metis with the Australia Telescope Compact Array

2007-03-09

arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0703215v1

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

13 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in A&A

Scientific paper

10.1051/0004-6361:20066626

(4) Vesta and (9) Metis are large main-belt asteroids with high albedos. With millimetre-observations at 93.0 and 95.5 GHz we characterised the emission properties of the surface material. The coverage of the full rotation period allowed a detailed study of the heterogeneity of the surface. The rotationally averaged fluxes are explained very well by our thermophysical model techniques when using an emissivity in the mm-range of about 0.6 for (4) Vesta and about 0.7 for (9) Metis. The mm-lightcurves follow for a large fraction of the rotation period the shape-introduced variations. The rotational phases with clear deviations are connected to structures which are visible in the HST images of (4) Vesta and the Keck AO-images of (9) Metis. The observed lightcurve amplitudes are peak-to-peak ~30% for (4) Vesta and ~25% for (9) Metis, while the shape-related amplitudes are only 5 and 4%, respectively. The emissivities at mm-wavelengths are lower than in the far-IR, confirming that particles with sizes of about 100 mikron influence the mm-behaviour. The 3-mm observations are very powerful for the study of asteroid surface heterogeneities.

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