Mathematics – Logic
Scientific paper
Oct 2003
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2003phdt.........2h&link_type=abstract
Thesis (PhD). RENSSELAER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE, Source DAI-B 64/04, p. 1765, Oct 2003, 387 pages.
Mathematics
Logic
2
Scientific paper
Near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy is a powerful technique that can be used to deduce the mineralogic, chemical and thermal nature of asteroids within the solar system. Based on crystal field theory and enhanced by empirical laboratory calibrations of minerals, observations of asteroids can reveal their mineralogic, geologic, chemical and thermal natures. Our knowledge of solar system formation and of the asteroids is currently very limited. Few asteroids (only ˜50) have received the attention necessary to derive their surface mineralogies and chemistries. This information, which is attainable now more than ever due to improved astronomical instrumentation and rigorous data reduction techniques, can begin to fill in the details of the broad picture that is beginning to emerge about the early solar system. This thesis looks at the “trees in the forest”—the asteroids, as well as the “forest”—the entire asteroid belt. Detailed near-infrared spectral analysis is required for the vast majority of asteroids. To help in that effort, this work reviews near-IR data from six main-belt asteroids: 69 Hesperia, 110 Lydia, 201 Penelope, 216 Kleopatra, 325 Heidelberga and 1459 Magnya. New discoveries from this work include the first verified detection of mafic silicate features on four M-type asteroids. The surfaces of these asteroids are mainly composed of low-Fe, low-Ca orthopyroxenes. This information implies that the parent bodies of these asteroids formed in chemically-reducing regions of the solar nebula. In addition, 1459 Magnya appears to be a basaltic eucrite-like, outer main belt asteroid from a parent body that is chemically different from 4 Vesta. Although exhibiting a eucrite-like surface material, its pyroxenes have similarities with the diogenite meteorites. The “big picture” part of this work focuses on inferring the thermal environments of the asteroids in the early solar system from their surface mineralogies. Results suggest a more heterogeneous heating pattern than has been previously suggested. Finally, analysis of mid- infrared data of several asteroids shows that this part of the EM spectrum is much more problematic and less likely to yield diagnostic information than the near-IR region.
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