Physical and Chemical properties of asteroid 4979 Otawara

Details Physical and Chemical properties of asteroid 4979 Otawara Physical and Chemical properties of asteroid 4979 Otawara

Dec 1999

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1999baas...31.1585d&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS Meeting #31, late abstracts, #59.12; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 31,

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

An international observing campaign was organized to determine the physical and chemical characteristics of asteroid 4979 Otawara which is the first target of the Rosetta mission (flyby on July 10, 2006). Knowledge of the physical parameters of the target bodies is required for both refinement of the design of the spacecraft and the instrument payload, and optimization of the mission trajectory and scenarios. We present the results of these observations obtained from December, 1998 through March, 1999. The spectral classification of 4979 Otawara could be either a pyroxene and/or olivine-rich S-type asteroid or a V type asteroid, a member of the Vesta dynamical family. Further observations are needed in order to discriminate between the two spectral types. The synodic rotation period of Otawara is Psyn = 2.707 +/- 0.005 hr. The lower limit for the axial ratio of the envelopping ellipsoid is a/b >= 1.3. The circular effective radius is 2.0 or 1.3 km in the case of a S-type or a V-type asteroid respectively. 4979 Otawara is a small, fast rotating asteroid (FRA). Lower limit on its density is obtained: rho min >= 1.95 g cm-3 if we assume that Otawara is an aggregate or rubble pile object. However, if Otawara is a single solid body, no constraint can be set on its density. 4979 Otawara will be a particularly interesting target to be studied from a spacecraft, since no fast rotator has been visited yet.

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