Статья

EXPLORENEOs. I. DESCRIPTION AND FIRST RESULTS FROM THE WARM<i>SPITZER</i>NEAR-EARTH OBJECT SURVEY

David E. TrillingDepartment of Physics and Astronomy, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86001, USA; [email protected]Michael MuellerObservatoire de la Côte d’Azur, Université de Nice Sophia Antipolis, CNRS, BP 4229, 06304 Nice Cedex 4, FranceJoseph L. HoraHarvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, MS-65, Cambridge, MA 02138, USAAlan W. HarrisB. BhattacharyaNASA Herschel Science Center, Caltech, M/S 100-22, 770 South Wilson Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91125, USAW. F. BottkeSouthwest Research Institute, 1050 Walnut Street, Suite 300, Boulder, CO 80302, USASteven R. ChesleyJet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, USAMarco DelbóObservatoire de la Côte d’Azur, Université de Nice Sophia Antipolis, CNRS, BP 4229, 06304 Nice Cedex 4, FranceJoshua P. EmeryDepartment of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Tennessee, 1412 Circle Drive, Knoxville, TN 37996, USAG. G. FazioHarvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, MS-65, Cambridge, MA 02138, USAAmy MainzerJet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, USABryan E. PenpraseDepartment of Physics and Astronomy, Pomona College, 610 North College Avenue, Claremont, CA 91711, USAH. A. SmithHarvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, MS-65, Cambridge, MA 02138, USAT. B. SpahrHarvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, MS-65, Cambridge, MA 02138, USAJohn StansberrySteward Observatory, University of Arizona, 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USACristina A. ThomasDepartment of Physics and Astronomy, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86001, USA; [email protected]

2010en

ABI

Аннотация

We have begun the ExploreNEOs project in which we observe some 700 Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) at 3.6 and 4.5 μm with the Spitzer Space Telescope in its Warm Spitzer mode. From these measurements and catalog optical photometry we derive albedos and diameters of the observed targets. The overall goal of our ExploreNEOs program is to study the history of near-Earth space by deriving the physical properties of a large number of NEOs. In this paper, we describe both the scientific and technical construction of our ExploreNEOs program. We present our observational, photometric, and thermal modeling techniques. We present results from the first 101 targets observed in this program. We find that the distribution of albedos in this first sample is quite broad, probably indicating a wide range of compositions within the NEO population. Many objects smaller than 1 km have high albedos (0.35), but few objects larger than 1 km have high albedos. This result is consistent with the idea that these larger objects are collisionally older, and therefore possess surfaces that are more space weathered and therefore darker, or are not subject to other surface rejuvenating events as frequently as smaller NEOs.

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Идентификаторы

DOI: 10.1088/0004-6256/140/3/770

Цитирования и источники

Цитирований: 3Использованных источников: 0

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