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91. Lightcurves of Near-Earth Asteroid 162173 (1999 JU3)
ID:
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/A+A/550/L11
Title:
Lightcurves of Near-Earth Asteroid 162173 (1999 JU3)
Short Name:
J/A+A/550/L11
Date:
21 Oct 2021
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
Near-Earth asteroid (hereafter NEA) 162173 (1999 JU3) is a potential target of two asteroid sample return missions not only because of its accessibility but also because of the first C-type asteroid for exploration missions. The lightcurve related physical properties of this object were investigated during the 2011-2012 apparition. We aim to confirm the physical parameters useful for JAXAs Hayabusa 2 mission such as rotational period, absolute magnitude and phase function. Our data complement previous studies which did not cover low phase angles. With optical imagers and 1-2m class telescopes, we acquired the photometric data at different phase angles. We independently derived the rotational lightcurve and the phase curve of the asteroid.
92. Lightcurves of Near-Earth Asteroid 3200 Phaethon
ID:
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/A+A/619/A123
Title:
Lightcurves of Near-Earth Asteroid 3200 Phaethon
Short Name:
J/A+A/619/A123
Date:
21 Oct 2021
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
The near-Earth asteroid 3200 Phaethon (1983 TB) is an attractive object not only from a scientific viewpoint but also because of JAXA's DESTINY+ target. The rotational lightcurve and spin properties were investigated based on the data obtained in the ground-based observation campaign of Phaethon. We aim to refine the lightcurves and shape model of Phaethon using all available lightcurve datasets obtained via optical observation, as well as our time-series observation data from the 2017 apparition. Using eight 1-2-m telescopes and an optical imager, we acquired the optical lightcurves and derived the spin parameters of Phaethon. We applied the lightcurve inversion method and SAGE (Shaping Asteroids with Genetic Evolution) algorithm to deduce the convex and non-convex shape model and pole orientations.
93. Lightcurves of 12 NEAs
ID:
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/A+A/511/A49
Title:
Lightcurves of 12 NEAs
Short Name:
J/A+A/511/A49
Date:
21 Oct 2021
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
Very small asteroids (VSAs) are thought to be the building blocks of larger asteroids and, as such, are interesting to study. Many of these monolithic or deeply fractured objects display rapid rotations with periods as short as several minutes. Observations of such asteroids can reveal their spin limits, which can be related to the tensile strength of their interiors. The evolution of the spins of these objects is primarily shaped by the YORP effect, the theory of which needs comparison with observations. With the 10m SALT telescope, we observed VSAs belonging to near-Earth asteroids. The obtained lightcurves were used to derive synodical periods of rotation, amplitudes, and elongations of these bodies. Results for 14 rapidly rotating asteroids were reported in the first paper in this series. Here we show lightcurves of 2 fast rotators, 9 objects with periods >=1h, and a possible non-principal axis rotator. We also list negative detections that most probably indicate asteroids with long periods and/or low amplitudes. Combining our results with the data from the literature, we obtain a set of 79 near-Earth VSAs with a median period of 0.25h (15min). By adjusting the spin limits predicted by theory to those observations, we find tentative evidence that the tensile strengths of VSAs, after scaling them to the same size, are of the same order as the minimum tensile strengths of stony meteoroids that undergo fragmentation under the atmospheric load.
94. Lightcurves of 14 NEAs
ID:
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/A+A/509/A94
Title:
Lightcurves of 14 NEAs
Short Name:
J/A+A/509/A94
Date:
21 Oct 2021
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
We report first results from our extensive survey of the very small (H>21.5mag) near-Earth asteroids. Our aim was to obtain photometric lightcurves for these faint, fast moving objects and to measure their rotation periods and amplitudes of light variations. These parameters can be used to make statistical analysis of the still little known population of the smallest asteroids, test present theories of the YORP effect as well as to study their spin limits, which are connected with their internal structure. Due to the faintness of the targets and the expected short periods of rotation, observations were performed with the large, 10-m SALT telescope in SAAO (South Africa). For most asteroids, V filter images with exposure times of 5-60 seconds were obtained with the instrument's SALTICAM's CCD camera. Even though the non-sidereal tracking was not available, the SALTICAM's relatively large field-of-view of 8'x8' helped to perform the relative photometry of the fast-moving targets. The presented asteroids have synodic periods ranging from 77s to 44min, effective diameters from 21 to 94m, and significantly elongated shapes.
95. Light curves of 5 Trans-Neptunian Objects
ID:
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/A+A/508/451
Title:
Light curves of 5 Trans-Neptunian Objects
Short Name:
J/A+A/508/451
Date:
21 Oct 2021
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
Trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) represent a new frontier in the study of our Solar System. In particular, the investigation of their rotational properties can provide important hints about their internal structure and collisional evolution. We expand the limited sample of TNOs with known rotation rates, and improve the knowledge of the physical nature of these bodies.
96. Line list for stellar chemical abundances
ID:
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/795/23
Title:
Line list for stellar chemical abundances
Short Name:
J/ApJ/795/23
Date:
21 Oct 2021
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
The achievable level of precision on photospheric abundances of stars is a major limiting factor on investigations of exoplanet host star characteristics, the chemical histories of star clusters, and the evolution of the Milky Way and other galaxies. While model-induced errors can be minimized through the differential analysis of spectrally similar stars, the maximum achievable precision of this technique has been debated. As a test, we derive differential abundances of 19 elements from high-quality asteroid-reflected solar spectra taken using a variety of instruments and conditions. We treat the solar spectra as being from unknown stars and use the resulting differential abundances, which are expected to be zero, as a diagnostic of the error in our measurements. Our results indicate that the relative resolution of the target and reference spectra is a major consideration, with use of different instruments to obtain the two spectra leading to errors up to 0.04 dex. Use of the same instrument at different epochs for the two spectra has a much smaller effect (~0.007 dex). The asteroid used to obtain the solar standard also has a negligible effect (~0.006 dex). Assuming that systematic errors from the stellar model atmospheres have been minimized, as in the case of solar twins, we confirm that differential chemical abundances can be obtained at sub-0.01 dex precision with due care in the observations, data reduction, and abundance analysis.
97. List of new asteroid models
ID:
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/A+A/631/A2
Title:
List of new asteroid models
Short Name:
J/A+A/631/A2
Date:
21 Oct 2021
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
Rotation properties (spin-axis direction and rotation period) and coarse shape models of asteroids can be reconstructed from their disk-integrated brightness when measured from various viewing geometries. These physical properties are essential for creating a global picture of structure and dynamical evolution of the main belt. The number of shape and spin models can be increased not only when new data are available, but also by combining independent data sets and inverting them together. Our aim was to derive new asteroid models by processing readily available photometry. We used asteroid photometry compiled in the Lowell Observatory photometry database with photometry from the Gaia Data Release 2. Both data sources are available for about 5400 asteroids. In the framework of the Asteroids@home distributed computing project, we applied the light curve inversion method to each asteroid to find its convex shape model and spin state that fits the observed photometry. Due to the limited number of Gaia DR2 data points and poor photometric accuracy of Lowell data, we were able to derive unique models for only ~1100 asteroids. Nevertheless, 762 of these are new models that significantly enlarge the current database of about 1600 asteroid models. Our results demonstrate the importance of a combined approach to inversion of asteroid photometry. While our models in general agree with those obtained by separate inversion of Lowell and Gaia data, the combined inversion is more robust, model parameters are more constrained, and unique models can be reconstructed in many cases when individual data sets alone are not sufficient.
98. Lowell Photometric Database asteroid models
ID:
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/A+A/587/A48
Title:
Lowell Photometric Database asteroid models
Short Name:
J/A+A/587/A48
Date:
21 Oct 2021
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
Information about shapes and spin states of individual asteroids is important for the study of the whole asteroid population. For asteroids from the main belt, most of the shape models available now have been reconstructed from disk-integrated photometry by the lightcurve inversion method. We want to significantly enlarge the current sample (~350) of available asteroid models. We use the lightcurve inversion method to derive new shape models and spin states of asteroids from the sparse-in-time photometry compiled in the Lowell Photometric Database. To speed up the time-consuming process of scanning the period parameter space through the use of convex shape models, we use the distributed computing project Asteroids@home, running on the Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing (BOINC) platform. This way, the period-search interval is divided into hundreds of smaller intervals. These intervals are scanned separately by different volunteers and then joined together. We also use an alternative, faster, approach when searching the best-fit period by using a model of triaxial ellipsoid. By this, we can independently confirm periods found with convex models and also find rotation periods for some of those asteroids for which the convex-model approach gives too many solutions.
99. Lowell Photometric Database asteroid models. II.
ID:
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/A+A/617/A57
Title:
Lowell Photometric Database asteroid models. II.
Short Name:
J/A+A/617/A57
Date:
21 Oct 2021
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
Information about the spin state of asteroids is important for our understanding of the dynamical processes affecting them. However, spin properties of asteroids are known for only a small fraction of the whole population. To enlarge the sample of asteroids with a known rotation state and basic shape properties, we combined sparse-in-time photometry from the Lowell Observatory Database with flux measurements from NASA's WISE satellite. We applied the light curve inversion method to the combined data. The thermal infrared data from WISE were treated as reflected light because the shapes of thermal and visual light curves are similar enough for our purposes. While sparse data cover a wide range of geometries over many years, WISE data typically cover an interval of tens of hours, which is comparable to the typical rotation period of asteroids. The search for best-fitting models was done in the framework of the Asteroids@home distributed computing project. By processing the data for almost 75000 asteroids, we derived unique shape models for about 900 of them. Some of them were already available in the DAMIT database and served us as a consistency check of our approach. In total, we derived new models for 662 asteroids, which significantly increased the total number of asteroids for which their rotation state and shape are known. For another 789 asteroids, we were able to determine their sidereal rotation period and estimate the ecliptic latitude of the spin axis direction. We studied the distribution of spins in the asteroid population. Apart from updating the statistics for the dependence of the distribution on asteroid size, we revealed a significant discrepancy between the number of prograde and retrograde rotators for asteroids smaller than about 10km. Combining optical photometry with thermal infrared light curves is an efficient approach to obtaining new physical models of asteroids. The amount of asteroid photometry is continuously growing and joint inversion of data from different surveys could lead to thousands of new models in the near future.
100. Main-belt asteroid photometry from TESS
ID:
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJS/245/29
Title:
Main-belt asteroid photometry from TESS
Short Name:
J/ApJS/245/29
Date:
21 Oct 2021
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) searches for planets transiting bright and nearby stars using high-cadence, large-scale photometric observations. Full frame images provided by the TESS mission include a large number of serendipitously observed main-belt asteroids (MBAs). Due to the cadence of the published full frame images, we are sensitive to periods as long as of order tens of days, a region of phase space that is generally not accessible through traditional observing. This work represents a much less biased measurement of the period distribution in this period range. We have derived rotation periods for 300 MBAs and have partial lightcurves for a further 7277 asteroids, including 43 with periods of P>100hr; this large number of slow rotators is predicted by theory. Of these slow rotators we find none requiring significant internal strength to resist rotational reshaping. We find our derived rotation periods to be in excellent agreement with results in the Lightcurve Database for the 55 targets that overlap. Over the nominal two-year lifetime of the mission, we expect the detection of around 85,000 unique asteroids with rotation period solutions for around 6000 asteroids. We project that the systematic analysis of the entire TESS data set will increase the number of known slow-rotating asteroids (period >100hr) by a factor of 10. Comparing our new period determinations with previous measurements in the literature, we find that the rotation period of asteroid (2320) Blarney has decreased by at least 20% over the past decade, potentially due to surface activity or subcatastrophic collisions.