- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/MNRAS/449/2638
- Title:
- Precise CCD positions of Phoebe in 2011-2014
- Short Name:
- J/MNRAS/449/2638
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- 346 new CCD observations during the years 2011-2014 have been reduced to derive the precise positions of Phoebe, the ninth satellite of Saturn. The observations were made by the 2.4 m telescope at Yunnan Observatory over nine nights. Due to the use of a focal-reducer on the telescope, its significant geometric distortion is solved for and removed for each CCD field of view. The positions of Phoebe are measured with respect to the stars in UCAC2 catalogue (Cat. I/289). The theoretical position of Phoebe was retrieved from the Institute de Mechanique Celeste et de Calcul des Ephemerides (IMCCE) ephemeris which includes the latest theory PH12 by Desmars et al. (2013, J/A+A/553/A36), while the position of Saturn was obtained from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory ephemeris DE431. Our results show that the mean O-Cs (observed minus computed) are -0.02 and -0.07 arcsec in right ascension and declination, respectively. The dispersions of our observations are estimated at about 0.04 arcsec in each direction.
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- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/A+AS/128/179
- Title:
- Precision meteor orbits
- Short Name:
- J/A+AS/128/179
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- Orbital elements, encounter data and other relevant information of 359 photographic meteors (Table 2 of the paper).
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/AJ/154/196
- Title:
- Properties of comet 49P/Arend-Rigaux, 1984-2012
- Short Name:
- J/AJ/154/196
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We analyzed images of comet 49P/Arend-Rigaux on 33 nights between 2012 January and May and obtained R-band lightcurves of the nucleus. Through usual phasing of the data, we found a double-peaked lightcurve having a synodic rotation period of 13.450+/-0.005 hr. Similarly, phase dispersion minimization and the Lomb-Scargle method both revealed rotation periods of 13.452 hr. Throughout the 2011/2012 apparition, the rotation period was found to increase by a small amount, consistent with a retrograde rotation of the nucleus. We also reanalyzed the publicly available data from the 1984/1985 apparition by applying the same techniques, finding a rotation period of 13.45+/-0.01 hr. Based on these findings, we show that the change in rotation period is less than 14 s per apparition. Furthermore, the amplitudes of the lightcurves from the two apparitions are comparable, to within reasonable errors, even though the viewing geometries differ, implying that we are seeing the comet at a similar sub-Earth latitude. We detected the presence of a short-term jet-like feature in 2012 March, which appears to have been created by a short-duration burst of activity on March 15. Production rates obtained in 2004/2005, along with reanalysis of the previous results from 1984/1985, imply a strong seasonal effect and a very steep fall-off after perihelion. This, in turn, implies that a single source region, rather than leakage from the entire nucleus, dominates activity.
144. (16) Psyche images
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/A+A/619/L3
- Title:
- (16) Psyche images
- Short Name:
- J/A+A/619/L3
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- Asteroid (16) Psyche is the target of the NASA Psyche mission. It is considered one of the few main-belt bodies that could be an exposed proto-planetary metallic core and that would thus be related to iron meteorites. Such an association is however challenged by both its near- and mid-infrared spectral properties and the reported estimates of its density. Here, we aim to refine the density of (16) Psyche to set further constraints on its bulk composition and determine its potential meteoritic analog. We observed (16) Psyche with ESO VLT/SPHERE/ZIMPOL as part of our large program (ID 199.C-0074). We used the high angular resolution of these observations to refine Psyche's three-dimensional (3D) shape model and subsequently its density when combined with the most recent mass estimates. In addition, we searched for potential companions around the asteroid. We derived a bulk density of 3.99+/-0.26g/cm^3^ for Psyche. While such density is incompatible at the 3-sigma level with any iron meteorites (~7.8g/cm^3^), it appears fully consistent with that of stony-iron meteorites such as mesosiderites (density ~4.25g/cm^3^). In addition, we found no satellite in our images and set an upper limit on the diameter of any non-detected satellite of 1460+/-200m at 150km from Psyche (0.2%xR_Hill_, the Hill radius) and 800+/-200m at 2000km (3%xRHill). Considering that the visible and near-infrared spectral properties of mesosiderites are similar to those of Psyche, there is merit to a long-published initial hypothesis that Psyche could be a plausible candidate parent body for mesosiderites.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/A+A/638/L15
- Title:
- (16) Psyche. VLT/SPHERE images and shape models
- Short Name:
- J/A+A/638/L15
- Date:
- 23 Mar 2022
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- Asteroid (16) Psyche is the largest M-type asteroid in the main belt and the target of the NASA Psyche mission. It is also the only asteroid of this size (D>200km) known to be metal rich. Although various hypotheses have been proposed to explain the rather unique physical properties of this asteroid, a perfect understanding of its formation and bulk composition is still missing. We aim to refine the shape and bulk density of (16) Psyche and to perform a thorough analysis of its shape to better constrain possible formation scenarios and the structure of its interior. We obtained disk-resolved VLT/SPHERE/ZIMPOL images acquired within our ESO large program (ID 199.C-0074), which complement similar data obtained in 2018. Both data sets offer a complete coverage of Psyche's surface. These images were used to reconstruct the three-dimensional (3D) shape of Psyche with two independent shape modeling algorithms (MPCD and ADAM). A shape analysis was subsequently performed, including a comparison with equilibrium figures and the identification of mass deficit regions. Our 3D shape along with existing mass estimates imply a density of 4.20+/-0.60g/cm^3, which is so far the highest for a solar system object following the four telluric planets. Furthermore, the shape of Psyche presents small deviations from an ellipsoid, that is, prominently three large depressions along its equator. The flatness and density of Psyche are compatible with a formation at hydrostatic equilibrium as a Jacobi ellipsoid with a shorter rotation period of ~3h. Later impacts may have slowed down Psyche's rotation, which is currently ~4.2h, while also creating the imaged depressions. Our results open the possibility that Psyche acquired its primordial shape either after a giant impact while its interior was already frozen or while its interior was still molten owing to the decay of the short-lived radionuclide ^26^Al.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/A+A/546/A86
- Title:
- R absolute magnitudes of Kuiper Belt objects
- Short Name:
- J/A+A/546/A86
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- Ever since the very first photometric studies of Centaurs and Kuiper belt objects (KBOs) their visible color distribution has been controversial. This controversy has triggered a prolific debate on the origin of the surface colors of these distant icy objects of the solar system. Two scenarios have been proposed to interpret and explain the large variability of colors, hence surface composition. Are the colors mainly primordial and directly related to the formation region, or are they the result of surface evolution processes? To date, no mechanism has been found that successfully explains why Centaurs, which are escapees from the Kuiper belt, exhibit two distinct color groups, whereas KBOs do not. We re-address this issue using a carefully compiled set of B-R colors and H_R{alpha}_ magnitudes (as proxy for size) for 253 objects, including data for 10 new small objects. We find that the bimodal color distribution of Centaurs is a size-related phenomenon, common to both Centaurs and small KBOs, i.e. independent of dynamical classification. Furthermore, we find that large KBOs also have a bimodal distribution of surface colors, albeit distinct from the small objects and strongly dependent on the `Haumea collisional family' objects. When plotted in B-R, H_R{alpha}_ space, the colors of Centaurs and KBOs display a peculiar N shape.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/AJ/157/186
- Title:
- r'-band photometry of comet 96P/Machholz 1
- Short Name:
- J/AJ/157/186
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We observed comet 96P/Machholz 1 on a total of nine nights before and after perihelion during its 2017/2018 apparition. Both its unusually small perihelion distance and the observed fragmentation during multiple apparitions make 96P an object of great interest. Our observations show no evidence of a detectable dust coma, implying that we are observing a bare nucleus at distances ranging from 2.3 to 3.8 au. Based on this assumption, we calculated its color and found average values of g'-r'=0.50+/-0.04, r'-i'=0.17+/-0.03, and i'-z'=0.06+/-0.04. These are notably more blue than those of the nuclei of other Jupiter-family and long-period comets. Furthermore, assuming a bare nucleus, we found an equivalent nuclear radius of 3.4+/-0.2 km with an axial ratio of at least 1.6+/-0.1. The lightcurve clearly displays one large peak, one broad flat peak, and two distinct troughs, with a clear asymmetry that suggests that the shape of the nucleus deviates from that of a simple triaxial ellipsoid. This asymmetry in the lightcurve allowed us to constrain the nuclear rotation period to 4.10+/-0.03 hr and 4.096+/-0.002 hr before and after perihelion, respectively. Within the uncertainties, 96P's rotation period does not appear to have changed throughout the apparition, and we conclude a maximum possible change in rotation period of 130 s. The observed properties were compared to those of comet 322P and interstellar object 1I/'Oumuamua in an attempt to study the effects of close perihelion passages on cometary surfaces and their internal structure and the potential interstellar origin of 96P.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/A+A/615/A93
- Title:
- Reconstructed decadal sunspot numbers
- Short Name:
- J/A+A/615/A93
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- The solar activity in the past millennia can only be reconstructed from cosmogenic radionuclide proxy records in terrestrial archives. However, because of the diversity of the proxy archives, it is difficult to build a homogeneous reconstruction. All previous studies were based on individual, sometimes statistically averaged, proxy datasets. Here we aim to provide a new consistent multiproxy reconstruction of the solar activity over the last 9000 years, using all available long-span datasets of ^10^Be and ^14^C in terrestrial archives. A new method, based on a Bayesian approach, was applied for the first time to solar activity reconstruction. A Monte Carlo search (using the x2 statistic) for the most probable value of the modulation potential was performed to match data from different datasets for a given time. This provides a straightforward estimate of the related uncertainties. We used six ^10^Be series of different lengths (from 500-10000 years) from Greenland and Antarctica, and the global ^14^C production series. The 10Be series were resampled to match wiggles related to the grand minima in the ^14^C reference dataset. The stability of the long data series was tested. Results. The Greenland Ice-core Project (GRIP) and the Antarctic EDML (EPICA Dronning Maud Land) ^10^Be series diverge from each other during the second half of the Holocene, while the ^14^C series lies in between them. A likely reason for the discrepancy is the insufficiently precise beryllium transport and deposition model for Greenland, which leads to an undercorrection of the GRIP series for the geomagnetic shielding effect. A slow 6-7-millennia variability with lows at ca. 5500 BC and 1500 AD in the longterm evolution of solar activity is found. Two components of solar activity can be statistically distinguished: the main component, corresponding to the 'normal' moderate level, and a component corresponding to grand minima. A possible existence of a component representing grand maxima is indicated, but it cannot be separated from the main component in a statistically significant manner. A new consistent reconstruction of solar activity over the last nine millennia is presented with the most probable values of decadal sunspot numbers and their realistic uncertainties. Independent components of solar activity corresponding to the main moderate activity and the grand-minimum state are identified; they may be related to different operation modes of the dynamo.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/A+A/568/L7
- Title:
- Reflectance spectra of 12 Trojans and Hildas
- Short Name:
- J/A+A/568/L7
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- Hilda asteroids and Jupiter Trojans are two low-albedo (p_v_~0.07) populations for which the Nice model predicts an origin in the primordial Kuiper Belt region. However, recent surveys by WISE and the Spitzer Space Telescope (SST) have revealed that ~2% of these objects possess high albedos (p_v_>=0.15), which might indicate interlopers --that is, objects not formed in the Kuiper Belt-- among these two populations. Here, we report spectroscopic observations in the visible and/or near-infrared spectral ranges of twelve high-albedo (p_v_>0.15) Hilda asteroids and Jupiter Trojans. These twelve objects have spectral properties similar to those of the low-albedo population, which suggests a similar composition and hence a similar origin for low- and high-albedo Hilda asteroids and Jupiter Trojans. We therefore propose that most high albedos probably result from statistical bias or uncertainties that affect the WISE and SST measurements. However, some of the high albedos may be true and the outcome of some collision-induced resurfacing by a brighter material that could include water ice. Future work should attempt to investigate the nature of this supposedly bright material. The lack of interlopers in our sample allows us to set an upper limit of 0.4% at a confidence level of 99.7% on the abundance of interlopers with unexpected taxonomic classes (e.g., A-, S-, V-type asteroids) among these two populations.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/AJ/160/238
- Title:
- Reflectivity of 4 Gallilean satellites with ISS
- Short Name:
- J/AJ/160/238
- Date:
- 10 Dec 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- For terrestrial exoplanets with thin or no atmospheres, the surface contributes light to the reflected light signal of the planet. Measurement of the variety of disk-integrated brightnesses of bodies in the solar system and the variation with illumination and wavelength is essential for both planning imaging observations of directly imaged exoplanets and interpreting the eventual data sets. Here we measure the change in brightness of the Galilean satellites as a function of planetocentric longitude, illumination phase angle, and wavelength. The data span a range of wavelengths from 400 to 950nm and predominantly phase angles from 0{deg} to 25{deg}, with some constraining observations near 60{deg}-140{deg}. Despite the similarity in size and density between the moons, surface inhomogeneities result in significant changes in the disk-integrated reflectivity with planetocentric longitude and phase angle. We find that these changes are sufficient to determine the rotational periods of the moon. We also find that at low phase angles, the surface can produce reflectivity variations of 8%-36%, and the limited high phase angle observations suggest variations will have proportionally larger amplitudes at higher phase angles. Additionally, all of the Galilean satellites are darker than predicted by an idealized Lambertian model at the phases most likely to be observed by direct imaging missions. If Earth-sized exoplanets have surfaces similar to that of the Galilean moons, we find that future direct imaging missions will need to achieve precisions of less than 0.1ppb. Should the necessary precision be achieved, future exoplanet observations could exploit similar observation schemes to deduce surface variations, determine rotation periods, and potentially infer surface composition.
