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Observations of Near-Earth Asteroids in Polarized Light

Observations of Near-Earth Asteroids in Polarized Light We report the results of position, photometric, and polarimetric observations of two near-Earth asteroids made with the 6-m telescope of the Special Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences. 1.2-hour measurements of the photometric variations of the asteroid 2009 DL46 made onMarch 8, 2016 (approximately 20m at a distance of about 0.23 AU from the Earth) showed a 0.m2-amplitude flash with a duration of about 20 minutes. During this time the polarization degree increased from the average level of 2–3% to 14%. The angle of the polarization plane and the phase angle were equal to 113° ± 1° and 43°, respectively. Our result indicates that the surface of the rotating asteroid (the rotation period of about 2.5 hours) must be non-uniformly rough. Observations of another asteroid—1994 UG—whose brightness was of about 17m and which was located at a geocentric distance of 0.077 AU, were carried out during the night of March 6/7, 2016 in two modes: photometric and spectropolarimetric. According to the results of photometric observations in Johnson’s B-, V-, and R-band filters, over one hour the brightness of the asteroid remained unchanged within the measurement errors (about 0.m02). Spectropolarimetric observations in the 420–800 nm wavelength interval showed the polarization degree to decrease from 8% in the blue part of the spectrum to 2% in the red part with the phase angle equal to 44◦, which is typical for S-type near-Earth asteroids. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Astrophysical Bulletin Springer Journals

Observations of Near-Earth Asteroids in Polarized Light

Afanasiev, V.; Ipatov, A.
Astrophysical Bulletin , Volume 73 (2) – May 29, 2018
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8 pages

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Publisher
Springer Journals
Copyright
Copyright © 2018 by Pleiades Publishing, Ltd.
Subject
Physics; Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology
ISSN
1990-3413
eISSN
1990-3421
DOI
10.1134/S1990341318020104
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

We report the results of position, photometric, and polarimetric observations of two near-Earth asteroids made with the 6-m telescope of the Special Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences. 1.2-hour measurements of the photometric variations of the asteroid 2009 DL46 made onMarch 8, 2016 (approximately 20m at a distance of about 0.23 AU from the Earth) showed a 0.m2-amplitude flash with a duration of about 20 minutes. During this time the polarization degree increased from the average level of 2–3% to 14%. The angle of the polarization plane and the phase angle were equal to 113° ± 1° and 43°, respectively. Our result indicates that the surface of the rotating asteroid (the rotation period of about 2.5 hours) must be non-uniformly rough. Observations of another asteroid—1994 UG—whose brightness was of about 17m and which was located at a geocentric distance of 0.077 AU, were carried out during the night of March 6/7, 2016 in two modes: photometric and spectropolarimetric. According to the results of photometric observations in Johnson’s B-, V-, and R-band filters, over one hour the brightness of the asteroid remained unchanged within the measurement errors (about 0.m02). Spectropolarimetric observations in the 420–800 nm wavelength interval showed the polarization degree to decrease from 8% in the blue part of the spectrum to 2% in the red part with the phase angle equal to 44◦, which is typical for S-type near-Earth asteroids.

Journal

Astrophysical Bulletin – Springer Journals

Published: May 29, 2018

References

  • Physical Properties of Near-Earth Objects
    Binzel, R. P.; Lupishko, D.; Martino, M.
  • Visible-Wavelength Spectroscopy of Asteroids
    Bus, S. J.; Vilas, F.; Barucci, M. A.