First thermal observations of an eclipsing near-Earth asteroid

Details First thermal observations of an eclipsing near-Earth asteroid First thermal observations of an eclipsing near-Earth asteroid

Jun 2010

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010sptz.prop70054m&link_type=abstract

Spitzer Proposal ID #70054

Physics

Scientific paper

We propose to obtain the first thermal observations of an eclipsing binary near-Earth asteroid, 1996 FG3. Through previous Spitzer observations, we have demonstrated (Mueller et al., 2010) that such observations enable a uniquely direct determination of the thermal inertia. Thermal-inertia measurements are crucial for constraining the surface properties by differentiating between regolith-covered, mature surfaces and younger bare-rock surfaces. Additionally, thermal inertia governs the important (for all D<10 km objects) Yarkovsky effect, a non-gravitational orbital drift due to thermal photons. Thanks to its low-deltaV orbit, our target has been repeatedly considered as a spacecraft target. Our results may be uniquely important in planning sample-return missions such as those being prepared by all major space agencies.

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