Radar Interferometric Imaging of Near-Earth Objects

Details Radar Interferometric Imaging of Near-Earth Objects Radar Interferometric Imaging of Near-Earth Objects

Sep 2008

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008dps....40.2807b&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #40, #28.07; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 40, p.437

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

1

Scientific paper

Very-Long-Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) provides the highest angular resolution of any astronomical imaging technique. VLBI radar imaging of asteroids can provide astrometry, relative orbits of binaries, unambiguous shapes, and maps of surface properties well beyond conventional delay-Doppler imaging.
Interferometric radar imaging of asteroids is complicated by near-field optical effects, echo bandwidths that are miniscule compared to those of almost all radio astronomical sources, and rapid rotation rates. We can apply appropriate corrections in time delay and Doppler shift to remove the near-field effects over small fields of view, and installation of a software correlator has just brought 1 Hz bandwidths within the capabilities of the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA).
Rapid rotation limits the VLBA to short exposure `snapshot’ observations, and because of the limited number of VLBA stations ( 10) almost all potential targets larger than six resolution elements across are over-resolved and cannot be effectively imaged. In these cases, source modeling may still be effective.
(4179) Toutatis will be a very strong radar target in November 2008. We will observe it with Arecibo transmitting and the VLBA receiving. Expectations for the VLBA data based on Toutatis’ known shape show that it can be reliably imaged, due to its slow rotation rate. These observations aim test the capabilities of the new correlator and the potential of radar-VLBI imaging, but may also refine our knowledge of Toutatis’ already well-known non-principal axis spin state.
This material is based partially on work supported by NASA's Science Mission Directorate Research and Analysis Programs. The VLBA is operated by Associated Universities for the NSF. Arecibo Observatory is run by Cornell for the NSF. M.W. Busch was supported by the Hertz Foundation.

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