Characteristics of Known Triple Asteroid Systems in the Main Belt

Details Characteristics of Known Triple Asteroid Systems in the Main Belt Characteristics of Known Triple Asteroid Systems in the Main Belt

Oct 2010

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010dps....42.4605m&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #42, #46.05; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 42, p.1050

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

1

Scientific paper

Since the discovery of "Sylvia Remus II” [1], around the binary asteroid (87) Sylvia [2] using the VLT/NACO instrument, the number of known triple systems increased significantly. Using the same instrument, a second moonlet was discovered around the binary (45) Eugenia [3] in 2007 [4]. Using an improved W.M. Keck II AO system, [5] announced the discovery of two 3 & 5-km moons orbiting the M-type asteroid (216) Kleopatra and more recently, [6] revealed the presence of two tiny 4-km moons around the C-type (93) Minerva. 3749 Balam is a different triple asteroid system whose existence was suggested by combining lightcurves and AO observations [7].
The properties of these triple systems have been derived individually and published recently [1, 8,9,10]. We will review and contrast their characteristics, including the orbital parameters of the satellite orbits, the size and shape of the primary and the satellites, their taxonomic classes, their bulk densities, and their ages. The goal of this study is to uncover clues concerning the formation and evolution of these mini-planetary systems.
The National Science Foundation supported this research under award number AAG-0807468.
1. Marchis et al. Nature 2005
2. Brown et al., IAU 7588, 2001
3. Merline et al. Nature 401, 1999
4. Marchis et al. IAU 1073, 2007
5. Marchis et al. IAU 8980, 2008
6. Marchis et al., IAU 9069, 2009
7. Marchis et al., IAU 8928, 2008
8. Marchis et al., A Dynamical Solution of the Triple Asteroid System (45) Eugenia , Icarus in press, 2010
9. Descamps et al, Triplicity and Physical Characteristics of Asteroid 216 Kleopatra Icarus, in revision, 2010
10. Marchis et al., Triplicity and Physical Characteristics of the main-belt Asteroid (93) Minerva, Icarus submitted 2010

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