Other
Scientific paper
Jun 2005
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2005sptz.prop20538t&link_type=abstract
Spitzer Proposal ID #20538
Other
Scientific paper
We propose to measure the sizes of two small S-type asteroids in the main belt using Spitzer/IRAC and near-simultaneous ground-based visible photometry. These sizes will then be combined with our HST measurements of these asteroids' masses to determine the quantity of fundamental interest, their densities. Our discovery of satellites orbiting these two S-type main-belt asteroids allows us to measure orbital properties, and hence to measure remotely their masses, without spacecraft visits. Albedo and size then become the dominant uncertainties in estimates of their densities. Their albedos are currently uncertain by factors of at least 2. With thermal infrared flux measurements and near-simultaneous ground-based visible photometry, we can reduce the uncertainty in the volume by an order of magnitude, yielding densities accurate to roughly 20%. Their densities can then be compared to the 2 (much larger) S-type asteroids with measured densities (from spacecraft visits), (433) Eros and (243) Ida, and to other large S-type binary asteroids we are observing from the ground. Hence, measuring the sizes and thus the densities of these two small asteroids will allow us to test if the gross structures of S-type asteroids are similar or different across a wide range of sizes and collisional histories.
Chapman Clark
Durda Daniel David
Merline William
Tamblyn Peter
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