Other
Scientific paper
Sep 2004
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2004sptz.prop.3698f&link_type=abstract
Spitzer Proposal ID #3698
Other
Scientific paper
We propose to measure the albedo distribution of the Jovian Trojan asteroids that populate the small end of the known population (4 to 7 km radius). The overarching goal is to (a) understand the collisional and surficial evolution of these objects, and (b) study the connection between these relatively primitive asteroids and the similarly primitive comets. The proposed observations will let us search for differences in the physical properties between small and large Trojans that can be related to surface aging and evolution. The Trojans are thought to have formed sufficiently far from the Sun during the planetary formation era to have had a significant ice component. How much of this ice component has been depleted via sublimation is one of the main questions we wish to address. Previous work by our group, in which we measured the albedo distribution of the large Trojans (radii above 30 km), showed three significant properties: the large Trojans have a very narrow range of albedos, the albedo does not correlate with the size, and the albedo distributions of the active comets and the large Trojans are statistically consistent with being the same despite the overall disparity in sizes. The collisional history of an object is dependent on it size, and so the smaller objects should have fresher, more reflective material on the surface. We hypothesize that the small Trojans, having relatively younger surfaces, will have a higher mean albedo, a larger spread, and a correlation with size. The other question is whether the small Trojans' albedos are consistent with the idea that the Trojan swarms feed part of the ecliptic comet population. A comparison of the albedos of small Trojans, large Trojans, comets, Centaurs, and Kuiper Belt objects will give clues to the nature of small bodies' surface evolution.
Fernandez Yanga
Jewitt David
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