Thermal Emission of Ceres and Vesta in the Mid-Infrared

Details Thermal Emission of Ceres and Vesta in the Mid-Infrared Thermal Emission of Ceres and Vesta in the Mid-Infrared

Dec 1997

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1997aas...191.7104d&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, 191st AAS Meeting, #71.04; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 29, p.1317

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Scientific paper

We present results of diffraction-limited MIRAC2 imaging of the two largest main-belt asteroids, Ceres and Vesta. The peak thermal emission for both of these objects occurs in the mid-infrared. Ceres was observed at seven mid-infrared wavelengths from 8.6 to 20.6 mu m{on May 5, 1996, from 9:23 to 9:43 UT. The measured fluxes at these wavelengths increase from 344 to 1759 Jy and are well-fit by a 238 K blackbody. The images are resolved at all wavelengths except 20.6 mu m. The apparent size of the asteroid decreases with increasing wavelength until about 11 mu m, and then the size begins to increase again. The object appears football-shaped and oriented with its long axis (in 2-D projection) running NE to SW at an angle of 50 degrees east of north. There is a large projection to the SE at a position corresponding to the mid-plane of the object, and a fainter projection to the NW also at the position of the mid-plane. Our calculated color temperature map indicates a cooler region of material across the object mid-plane, and our opacity/emissivity map indicates that this lower-temperature region has a higher opacity/emissivity than other portions of the asteroid. The southwestern half of the asteroid exhibits the highest temperatures. Vesta was observed at eight mid-infrared wavelengths from 8.6 to 20.6 mu m{on May 5, 1996, from 8:23 to 8:52 UT. The measured fluxes, excluding the 20.6 mu m{image, increase from 401 to 1036 Jy and are well-fit by a 271 K blackbody. The images are resolved at all wavelengths except 20.6 mu m. The apparent size of the asteroid increases with wavelength. The object appears rounder than Ceres and somewhat elongated, with a large flattened edge to the NW in 2-D projection. Our calculated color temperature and opacity/emissivity maps show smoother distributions than found for Ceres.

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