CCD Photometry of Asteroid 2867 Steins: Flyby Target of the Rosetta Mission

Details CCD Photometry of Asteroid 2867 Steins: Flyby Target of the Rosetta Mission CCD Photometry of Asteroid 2867 Steins: Flyby Target of the Rosetta Mission

Aug 2005

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2005noao.prop..116w&link_type=abstract

NOAO Proposal ID #2005B-0116

Physics

Scientific paper

Asteroid 2867 Steins is one of two flyby targets of ESA's Rosetta mission, currently en route to a rendezvous with periodic comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko in 2014. The Steins flyby will occur on September 5, 2008. Steins is a main belt asteroid and is estimated to be approximately 10 km in diameter. It has a surface composition similar to enstatite chondrite meteorites, one of the more thermally processed taxonomic classes. We propose CCD photometry with the CTIO 0.9m telescope in order to physically characterize this asteroid. Using multi-spectral (BVRI) CCD images we can determine the rotation period of the asteroid, set a lower limit on its axial ratio (i.e., shape), and search for compositional variations on its surface. Observations of the asteroid at multiple oppositions and, in particular, at different ecliptic longitudes and latitudes, can be combined to derive a shape model for the asteroid, provide a precise determination of its rotation pole orientation, and provide a phase curve, which is indicative of the physical properties of surface materials. Our observations are key to providing data to characterize 2867 Steins and to be used in science planning for the Rosetta encounter, thus maximizing the scientific results obtained from the spacecraft flyby.

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