Search

We present a physical model and spin-state analysis of the potentially hazardous asteroid (23187) 2000 PN9. As part of a long-term campaign to make direct detections of the YORP effect, we collected optical lightcurves of the asteroid between 2006 and 2020. These observations were combined with planetary radar data to develop a detailed shape model which was used to search for YORP acceleration. We report that 2000 PN9 is a relatively large top-shaped body with a sidereal rotation period of 2.53216$\pm$0.00015 h. Although we find no evidence for rotational acceleration, YORP torques smaller than $\sim$10$^{-8}$$\,\rm rad/day^{2}$ cannot be ruled out. It is likely that 2000 PN9 is a YORP-evolved object, and may be an example of YORP equilibrium or self limitation., Comment: Accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Main paper: 15 pages, 12 figures. Appendix: 9 pages, 8 figures

The YORP effect is a small thermal-radiation torque experienced by small asteroids, and is considered to be crucial in their physical and dynamical evolution. It is important to understand this effect by providing measurements of YORP for a range of asteroid types to facilitate the development of a theoretical framework. We are conducting a long-term observational study on a selection of near-Earth asteroids to support this. We focus here on (68346) 2001 KZ66, for which we obtained both optical and radar observations spanning a decade. This allowed us to perform a comprehensive analysis of the asteroid's rotational evolution. Furthermore, radar observations from the Arecibo Observatory enabled us to generate a detailed shape model. We determined that (68346) is a retrograde rotator with its pole near the southern ecliptic pole, within a $ 15^\circ$ radius of longitude $ 170^\circ$ and latitude $ -85^\circ$. By combining our radar-derived shape model with the optical light curves we developed a refined solution to fit all available data, which required a YORP strength of $ (8.43\pm0.69)\times10^{-8} \rm~rad ~day^{-2} $. (68346) has a distinct bifurcated shape comprising a large ellipsoidal component joined by a sharp neckline to a smaller non-ellipsoidal component. This object likely formed from either the gentle merging of a binary system, or from the deformation of a rubble pile due to YORP spin-up. The shape exists in a stable configuration close to its minimum in topographic variation, where regolith is unlikely to migrate from areas of higher potential., Comment: To be published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS). 19 pages, 14 figures

On 3 July 2016, several instruments on board ESA's Rosetta spacecraft detected signs of an outburst event on comet 67P, at a heliocentric distance of 3.32 AU from the sun, outbound from perihelion. We here report on the inferred properties of the ejected dust and the surface change at the site of the outburst. The activity coincided with the local sunrise and continued over a time interval of 14 - 68 minutes. It left a 10m-sized icy patch on the surface. The ejected material comprised refractory grains of several hundred microns in size, and sub-micron-sized water ice grains. The high dust mass production rate is incompatible with the free sublimation of crystalline water ice under solar illumination as the only acceleration process. Additional energy stored near the surface must have increased the gas density. We suggest a pressurized sub-surface gas reservoir, or the crystallization of amorphous water ice as possible causes., Comment: 20 pages, 19 figures, 5 tables

We describe Castalia, a proposed mission to rendezvous with a Main Belt Comet (MBC), 133P/Elst-Pizarro. MBCs are a recently discovered population of apparently icy bodies within the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, which may represent the remnants of the population which supplied the early Earth with water. Castalia will perform the first exploration of this population by characterising 133P in detail, solving the puzzle of the MBC's activity, and making the first in situ measurements of water in the asteroid belt. In many ways a successor to ESA's highly successful Rosetta mission, Castalia will allow direct comparison between very different classes of comet, including measuring critical isotope ratios, plasma and dust properties. It will also feature the first radar system to visit a minor body, mapping the ice in the interior. Castalia was proposed, in slightly different versions, to the ESA M4 and M5 calls within the Cosmic Vision programme. We describe the science motivation for the mission, the measurements required to achieve the scientific goals, and the proposed instrument payload and spacecraft to achieve these., Comment: Accepted for publication in Advances in Space Research (special issue on Small Body Exploration). 30 pages

We report new lightcurves and phase functions for nine Jupiter-family comets (JFCs). They were observed in the period 2004-2015 with various ground telescopes as part of the Survey of Ensemble Physical Properties of Cometary Nuclei (SEPPCoN) as well as during devoted observing campaigns. We add to this a review of the properties of 35 JFCs with previously published rotation properties. The photometric time-series were obtained in Bessel R, Harris R and SDSS r' filters and were absolutely calibrated using stars from the Pan-STARRS survey. This specially-developed method allowed us to combine data sets taken at different epochs and instruments with absolute-calibration uncertainty down to 0.02 mag. We used the resulting time series to improve the rotation periods for comets 14P/Wolf, 47P/Ashbrook-Jackson, 94P/Russell, and 110P/Hartley 3 and to determine the rotation rates of comets 93P/Lovas and 162P/Siding-Spring for the first time. In addition to this, we determined the phase functions for seven of the examined comets and derived geometric albedos for eight of them. We confirm the known cut-off in bulk densities at $\sim$0.6 g $\mathrm{cm^{-3}}$ if JFCs are strengthless. Using the model of Davidsson (2001) for prolate ellipsoids with typical density and elongations, we conclude that none of the known JFCs require tensile strength larger than 10-25 Pa to remain stable against rotational instabilities. We find evidence for an increasing linear phase function coefficient with increasing geometric albedo. The median linear phase function coefficient for JFCs is 0.046 mag/deg and the median geometric albedo is 4.2 per cent., Comment: 38 pages, accepted for publication in MNRAS

We present a summary of the campaign of remote observations that supported the European Space Agency's Rosetta mission. Telescopes across the globe (and in space) followed comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko from before Rosetta's arrival until nearly the end of mission in September 2016. These provided essential data for mission planning, large-scale context information for the coma and tails beyond the spacecraft, and a way to directly compare 67P with other comets. The observations revealed 67P to be a relatively `well behaved' comet, typical of Jupiter family comets and with activity patterns that repeat from orbit-to-orbit. Comparison between this large collection of telescopic observations and the in situ results from Rosetta will allow us to better understand comet coma chemistry and structure. This work is just beginning as the mission ends -- in this paper we present a summary of the ground-based observations and early results, and point to many questions that will be addressed in future studies., Comment: Author prepared version; final published version available at journal. 22 pages

P/2013 P5 PANSTARRS was discovered in Aug. 2013, displaying a cometary tail, but with orbital elements typical for a member of the inner asteroid Main Belt. We monitored the object from 2013 Aug. 30 until Oct. 05 using the CFHT, NTT, CA 1.23m, Perkins 1.8m (Lowell), and the 0.6m TRAPPIST telescopes. We measured its nuclear radius to be r < 0.25-0.29km, and its colours g-r = 0.58+/-0.05 and r-i = 0.23+/-0.06, typical for an S-class asteroid. We failed to detect any rotational light curve, with an amplitude < 0.05mag and a double-peaked rotation period < 20h. A detailed Finson-Probstein analysis of deep NTT and CFHT images indicated that the object was active since at least late January 2013 until the time of the latest observations in 2013 September, with at least two peaks of activity around 2013 June 14+/-10d and 2013 July 22+/-3d. The changes of activity level and the activity peaks were extremely sharp and short, shorter than the temporal resolution of our observations (about 1d). The dust distribution was similar during these two events, with dust grains covering at least the 1-1000{\mu}m range. The total mass ejected in grains <1mm was estimated to be 3.0 10$^6$kg and 2.6 10$^7$kg around the two activity peaks. Rotational disruption cannot be ruled out as the cause of the dust ejection. We also propose that the components of a contact binary might gently rub and produce the observed emission. Volatile sublimation might also explain what appears as cometary activity over a period of 8 months. However, while Main Belt comets best explained by ice sublimation are found in the outskirts of the Main Belt, where water ice is believed to be able to survive buried in moderately large objects for the age of the solar system deeply, the presence of volatiles in an object smaller than 300m in radius would be very surprising in the inner asteroid belt., Comment: A&A, accepted

We present results from SEPPCoN, an on-going Survey of the Ensemble Physical Properties of Cometary Nuclei. In this report we discuss mid-infrared measurements of the thermal emission from 89 nuclei of Jupiter-family comets (JFCs). All data were obtained in 2006 and 2007 with the Spitzer Space Telescope. For all 89 comets, we present new effective radii, and for 57 comets we present beaming parameters. Thus our survey provides the largest compilation of radiometrically-derived physical properties of nuclei to date. We conclude the following. (a) The average beaming parameter of the JFC population is 1.03+/-0.11, consistent with unity, and indicating low thermal inertia. (b) The known JFC population is not complete even at 3 km radius, and even for comets with perihelia near ~2 AU. (c) We find that the JFC nuclear cumulative size distribution (CSD) has a power-law slope of around -1.9. (d) This power-law is close to that derived from visible-wavelength observations, suggesting that there is no strong dependence of geometric albedo with radius. (e) The observed CSD shows a hint of structure with an excess of comets with radii 3 to 6 km. (f) Our CSD is consistent with an intrinsic distribution that lacks many sub-kilometer objects., Comment: 72 pages, 14 figures. To be published in Icarus. arXiv preprint version 1

We present an updated cumulative size distribution (CSD) for Jupiter Family comet (JFC) nuclei, including a rigourous assessment of the uncertainty on the slope of the CSD. The CSD is expressed as a power law, N(>r_N) \propto r_N^{-q}, where r_N is the radius of the nuclei and q is the slope. We include a large number of optical observations published by ourselves and others since the comprehensive review in the "Comets II" book (Lamy et al. 2004), and make use of an improved fitting method. We assess the uncertainty on the CSD due to all of the unknowns and uncertainties involved (photometric uncertainty, assumed phase function, albedo and shape of the nucleus) by means of Monte Carlo simulations. In order to do this we also briefly review the current measurements of these parameters for JFCs. Our final CSD has a slope q=1.92\pm 0.20 for nuclei with radius r_N \ge 1.25 km., Comment: 13 pages, accepted for publication in MNRAS

Context. Near-Earth asteroid-comet transition object 107P/ (4015) Wilson-Harrington is a possible target of the joint European Space Agency (ESA) and Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Marco Polo sample return mission. Physical studies of this object are relevant to this mission, and also to understanding its asteroidal or cometary nature. Aims. Our aim is to obtain significant new constraints on the surface thermal properties of this object. Methods. We present mid-infrared photometry in two filters (16 and 22 microns) obtained with NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope on February 12, 2007, and results from the application of the Near Earth Asteroid Thermal Model (NEATM).We obtained high S/N in two mid-IR bands allowing accurate measurements of its thermal emission. Results. We obtain a well constrained beaming parameter (eta = 1.39 +/- 0.26) and obtain a diameter and geometric albedo of D = 3.46 +/- 0.32 km, and pV = 0.059 +/- 0.011. We also obtain similar results when we apply this best-fitting thermal model to single-band mid-IR photometry reported by Campins et al. (1995), Kraemer et al. (2005) and Reach et al. (2007). Conclusions. The albedo of 4015 Wilson-Harrington is low, consistent with those of comet nuclei and primitive C-, P-, D-type asteorids. We establish a rough lower limit for the thermal inertia of W-H of 60 Jm^-2s^(-0.5)K^-1 when it is at r=1AU, which is slightly over the limit of 30 Jm^-2s^(-0.5)K-1 derived by Groussin et al. (2009) for the thermal inertia of the nucleus of comet 22P/Kopff., Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure and 3 tables. Paper accepted for publication

We present results from CCD observations of comet 2P/Encke acquired at Steward Observatory's 2.3m Bok Telescope on Kitt Peak obtained in Oct. 2002, when the comet was near aphelion. Rotational lightcurves in B, V and R-filters were acquired over two nights of observations, and analysed to study the physical and color properties of the nucleus. The average apparent R-filter magnitude across both nights corresponds to a mean effective radius of 3.95 +/- 0.06 km. The rotational lightcurve results in a nucleus axial ratio a/b >= 1.44 +/- 0.06 and semi-axes lengths of [3.60 +/- 0.09] x [5.20 +/- 0.13] km. Our data includes the first detailed time series multi-color measurements of a cometary nucleus, and significant color variations were seen. The average color indices across both nights are: (V-R) = 0.39 +/- 0.06 and (B-V) = 0.73 +/- 0.06 (R_mean = 19.76 +/- 0.03). We linked our data with the September 2002 data from Fernandez et al. (2005) - taken just 2-3 weeks before the current data set - and we show that a rotation period of 11.083 +/- 0.003hours works extrememly well for the combined data set., Comment: Accepted for publication in Icarus (Dec 2006). 27 pages

Context: In 2004 asteroid (2867) Steins has been selected as a flyby target for the Rosetta mission. Determination of its spin period and the orientation of its rotation axis are essential for optimization of the flyby planning. Aim: Measurement of the rotation period and light curve of asteroid (2867) Steins at a phase angle larger than achievable from ground based observations, providing a high quality data set to contribute to the determination of the orientation of the spin axis and of the pole direction. Methods: On March 11, 2006, asteroid (2867) Steins was observed continuously for 24 hours with the scientific camera system OSIRIS onboard Rosetta. The phase angle was 41.7 degrees, larger than the maximum phase angle of 30 degrees when Steins is observed from Earth. A total of 238 images, covering four rotation periods without interruption, were acquired. Results: The light curve of (2867) Steins is double peaked with an amplitude of $\approx$ 0.23 mag. The rotation period is 6.052 $\pm$ 0.007 hours. The continuous observations over four rotation periods exclude the possibility of period ambiguities. There is no indication of deviation from a principal axis rotation state. Assuming a slope parameter of G = 0.15, the absolute visual magnitude of Steins is 13.05 $\pm$ 0.03., Comment: 8 pages (incl. online material), 4 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics letters

Jupiter Family comets (JFCs) are short period comets which have recently entered the inner solar system, having previously orbited in the Kuiper Belt since the formation of the planets. We used two nights on the 3.6m New Technology Telescope (NTT) at the European Southern Observatory, to obtain VRI photometry of three JFCs; 7P/Pons-Winnecke, 14P/Wolf and 92P/Sanguin. These were observed to be stellar in appearance. We find mean effective radii of 2.24 \pm 0.02 km for 7P, 3.16 \pm 0.01 km for 14P and 2.08 \pm 0.01 km for 92P, assuming a geometric albedo of 0.04. From light-curves for each comet we find rotation periods of 7.53 \pm 0.10 and 6.22 \pm 0.05 hours for 14P and 92P respectively. 7P exhibits brightness variations which imply a rotation period of 6.8 \le P_rot \le 9.5 hours. Assuming the nuclei to be ellipsoidal the measured brightness variations imply minimum axial ratios a/b of 1.3 \pm 0.1 for 7P and 1.7 \pm 0.1 for both 14P and 92P. This in turn implies minimum densities of 0.23 \pm 0.08 g cm^{-3} for 7P, 0.32 \pm 0.02 g cm^{-3} for 14P and 0.49 \pm 0.06 g cm^{-3} for 92P. Finally, we measure colour indices of (V-R) = 0.40 \pm 0.05 and (R-I) = 0.41 \pm 0.06 for 7P/Pons-Winnecke, (V-R) = 0.57 \pm 0.07 and (R-I) = 0.51 \pm 0.06 for 14P/Wolf, and (V-R) = 0.54 \pm 0.04 and (R-I) = 0.54 \pm 0.04 for 92P/Sanguin., Comment: 12 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication in A&A

Several spacecraft missions have recently targeted asteroids to study their morphologies and physical properties (e.g. Galileo, NEAR Shoemaker), and more are planned. MUSES-C is a Japanese mission designed to rendezvous with a near-Earth asteroid (NEA). The MUSES-C spacecraft, Hayabusa, was launched successfully in May 2003. It will rendezvous with its target asteroid in 2005, and return samples to the Earth in 2007. Its target, 25143 Itokawa (1998 SF36), made a close approach to the Earth in 2001. We collected an extensive ground-based database of broadband photometry obtained during this time, which maximized the phase angle coverage, to characterize this target in preparation for the mission. Our project was designed to capitalize on the broadband UBVRI photometric observations taken with a series of telescopes, instrumentation, and observers. Photometry and spectrophotometry of Itokawa were acquired at Lowell, McDonald, Steward, Palomar, Table Mountain and Kiso Observatories. The photometric data sets were combined to calculate Hapke model parameters of the surface material of Itokawa, and examine the solar-corrected broadband color characteristics of the asteroid. Broadband photometry of an object can be used to: (1) determine its colors and thereby contribute to the understanding of its surface composition and taxonomic class, and (2) infer global physical surface properties of the target body. We present both colors from UBVRI observations of the MUSES-C target Itokawa, and physical properties derived by applying a Hapke model to the broadband BVRI photometry.

UNKNOWN

UNKNOWN

Talks of how asteroid 1998 SF36 (25143) is the target of the Japanese/NASA MUSES-C sample return mission.