J/A+A/644/A23 Extended photometric survey of near-Earth objects (Ieva, 2020)
Extended photometric survey of near-Earth objects.
Ieva S., Dotto E., Mazzotta Epifani E., Perna D., Fanasca C., Lazzarin M.,
Bertini I., Petropoulou V., Rossi A., Micheli M., Perozzi E.
<Astron. Astrophys. 644, A23 (2020)>
=2020A&A...644A..23I 2020A&A...644A..23I (SIMBAD/NED BibCode)
ADC_Keywords: Solar system ; Minor planets ; Photometry
Keywords: minor planets, asteroids: individual: NEOs - techniques: photometric -
surveys
Abstract:
The near-Earth objects (NEOs), whose proximity makes them the most
accessible bodies in the Solar System, allow us to sample asteroids
from tens of kilometers down to objects of a few meters in size.
However, while the physical properties for the largest bodies are
mostly known, we have very little physical information regarding the
small NEOs. These objects today represent the overall majority among
the ∼2500 new discoveries each year, but they are usually only bright
enough to be observable during their close approaches.
Our aim was to extend our survey that started in 2015 on the NEO
population, using ground-based observations to characterize the
fainter (and typically smaller) NEOs observable each night.
We performed BVRIz photometry of NEOs, making use of the DOLORES
instrument at the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG, La Palma, Spain)
and the Asiago Schmidt telescope (Italy), in order to derive visible
color indexes and the taxonomic classification for each target in our
sample.
We taxonomically classified 51 new NEOs for the first time. Together
with data obtained in our previous work and collected by other surveys
available online, we analyzed an extended sample of 1081 individual
NEOs. While the overall majority of them belong to the S-complex, our
analysis of the taxonomic distribution found a larger contribution for
dark bodies going toward larger H, suggesting that they could be more
abundant among the fainter NEOs. Moreover, we find an interesting
correlation between semi-major axis and diameter, which could be in
part related to the Yarkovsky effect. Rapid characterization of the
fainter NEO population shortly after their discovery will be crucial
in the future, before those bodies become too faint to be observed, or
lost forever.
Description:
List of the enlarged sample of 1081 NEOs considered in the analysis,
putting together objects observed in this work, in Ieva et al.
(2018A&A...615A.127I 2018A&A...615A.127I), in Perna et al. (2018P&SS..157...82P 2018P&SS..157...82P), in
Devogele et al. (2019AJ....158..196D 2019AJ....158..196D, Cat. J/AJ/158/196) and available
online on the MITHNEOS campaign. For each object we report absolute
magnitude H, taxonomic classification, average albedo and estimated
diameter for NEOs. Absolute magnitudes are taken from the JPL HORIZON
database (https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi); average albedoes are
derived from the ones reported on the HORIZON database. Diameters are
computed using the relation found by Bowell et al.
(1989BAAS...21..969B 1989BAAS...21..969B).
File Summary:
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FileName Lrecl Records Explanations
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ReadMe 80 . This file
tablea1.dat 44 1081 Absolute magnitude (H), taxonomic classification,
albedo and estimated diameter for the whole
enlarged sample of NEOs considered in our analysis
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See also:
J/AJ/158/196 : Near-Earth Object Survey (MANOS) spectroscopy (Devogele+, 2019)
Byte-by-byte Description of file: tablea1.dat
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Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
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1- 10 A10 --- Name Asteroid number or designation
12- 16 A5 --- survey Origin (1)
18- 21 F4.1 mag H Absolute magnitude
23- 31 A9 --- Taxon Taxonomical class or complexes derived
33- 37 F5.3 --- Albedo Average albedo
39- 44 F6.3 km Diameter Estimated diameter
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Note (1): Survey code as follows:
a = from MITHNEOS campaign (http://smass.mit.edu/minus.html)
b = from Ieva et al. (2018A&A...615A.127I 2018A&A...615A.127I) and this work
c = from Perna et al. (2018P&SS..157...82P 2018P&SS..157...82P)
d = from Devogele et al. (2019AJ....158..196D 2019AJ....158..196D, Cat. J/AJ/158/196)
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Acknowledgements:
Simone Ieva, simone.ieva(at)inaf.it
(End) Simone Ieva [INAF-OAR], Patricia Vannier [CDS] 09-Nov-2020