Other
Scientific paper
Sep 1996
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1996dps....28.1008b&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #28, #10.08; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 28, p.1097
Other
Scientific paper
Dynamical families among the asteroids are thought to result from the collisional disruption of larger parent bodies. Even with recent improvements in the calculation of proper elements and the use of better clustering algorithms, a grouping in orbital element space is not sufficient proof of a genetic association. Proof of a genetic link between these objects is possible only through physical studies of the individual family members. In the course of the Small Main-Belt Asteroid Spectroscopic Survey (SMASS), we have measured the spectral reflectance properties of more than 250 asteroids whose semi-major axes are between 2.7 and 2.82 AU. This region of the main-belt has been chosen for study due to the diversity of asteroid spectral types present, and for the number of dynamical families that have been identified (e.g., Williams 1992, Icarus 96, 251 and Zappala et al. 1994, Astron. J. 107, 772). We have focused our efforts on 10 families defined by Zappala et al. (1995, Icarus 116, 291) (Astrid, Ceres, Chloris, Dora, Henan, Hoffmeister, Liberatrix, Lydia, Merxia, Nemesis) and on the proposed high inclination Pallas family (e.g., Lemaitre and Morbidelli 1994, Cel. Mech. Dynam. Astron. 60, 29). Observations were obtained with a CCD spectrograph attached to the 2.4-m Hiltner telescope of the Michigan-Dartmouth-MIT Observatory and cover the wavelength range of 4400-9200 Angstroms. Of the >250 objects observed, approximately one-half are identified as family members while the other half are non-family members, where the latter are used to define the background population. For each of the eleven families studied, strong similarities are seen in the reflectance properties between the individual family members. This is in significant contrast to the relatively random distribution of C-type and S-type asteroids seen in the background population. Interlopers are found, but usually appear to be at the periphery of a family, highlighting the difficulty of establishing dynamical boundaries for family membership.
Binzel Richard P.
Burbine Thomas H.
Bus Schelte J.
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