Asteroid Masses with Next-generation Sky Surveys

Details Asteroid Masses with Next-generation Sky Surveys Asteroid Masses with Next-generation Sky Surveys

Sep 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009dps....41.5009g&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #41, #50.09

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

Next-generation sky surveys such as Pan-STARRS 1 (PS1) will increase the total number of known asteroids by a factor of several. The number of known close encounters between asteroids, mostly MBOs, will therefore also increase substantially. Coupled with an improved astrometric accuracy, we anticipate that masses can be estimated for a substantial amount of asteroids by making use of signals produced by their mutual gravitational perturbations. That is, the mass of a relatively large perturber can be estimated by tracking smaller asteroids which are having close encounters with the perturber.
To get an estimate for the number of masses that could be obtained using a PS1-like system, we generate a fairly realistic model of main-belt objects (MBOs) based on the orbital distribution of known MBOs having estimated absolute magnitudes (H) below the current completeness limit of H 15.5, and extrapolate the MBO H distribution obtained by Jedicke et al. (Asteroids III) to H=25. The longitude of ascending node, argument of perihelion, and mean anomaly are randomly drawn from a uniform distribution thus leading to a lower limit for the number of close encounters. Then we run a 21-lunation simulation with the Moving Object Processing System (MOPS) using PS1-like parameters. Close encounters between the synthetic MBOs during a 42-lunation survey are then efficiently sought by using combination of OpenOrb and a k-dim-tree algorithm from the Auton Lab. All synthetic MBOs having close encounters are assigned a mass based on their size, and the orbits are integrated over the time span of the survey to answer questions like: How many of the encounters change the orbits enough to allow useful mass estimation? What is the size distribution of the asteroids for which useful masses can be obtained? Can those objects be detected by MOPS? Are additional follow-up observations useful?

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