Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Masiero, Joseph R
• Grav, T
• Mainzer, A K
• Nugent, C R
• Bauer, J M
• Stevenson, R
• Sonnett, S

Titel

MAIN-BELT ASTEROIDS WITH WISE /NEOWISE: NEAR-INFRARED ALBEDOS

Ist Teil von

• The Astrophysical journal, 2014-08, Vol.791 (2), p.1-11

Ort / Verlag

United States

Erscheinungsjahr

2014

Quelle

Free E-Journal (出版社公開部分のみ）

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• We present revised near-infrared albedo fits of 2835 main-belt asteroids observed by WISE/NEOWISE over the course of its fully cryogenic survey in 2010. These fits are derived from reflected-light near-infrared images taken simultaneously with thermal emission measurements, allowing for more accurate measurements of the near-infrared albedos than is possible for visible albedo measurements. Because our sample requires reflected light measurements, it undersamples small, low-albedo asteroids, as well as those with blue spectral slopes across the wavelengths investigated. We find that the main belt separates into three distinct groups of 6%, 16%, and 40% reflectance at 3.4 mu m. Conversely, the 4.6 mu m albedo distribution spans the full range of possible values with no clear grouping. Asteroid families show a narrow distribution of 3.4 mu m albedos within each family that map to one of the three observed groupings, with the (221) Eos family being the sole family associated with the 16% reflectance 3.4 mu m albedo group. We show that near-infrared albedos derived from simultaneous thermal emission and reflected light measurements are important indicators of asteroid taxonomy and can identify interesting targets for spectroscopic follow-up.