THE ORIGIN OF ASTEROID 162173 (1999 JU{sub 3})
- Physics Department, University of Central Florida, P.O. Box 162385, Orlando, FL 32816-2385 (United States)
- Department of Edaphology and Geology, University of La Laguna, E-38071 Tenerife (Spain)
- Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur, Universite de Nice Sophia Antipolis (UNS), CNRS UMR7293, F-06108 Nice Cedex 2 (France)
- Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC), C/Via Lactea s/n, E-38205 La Laguna (Spain)
Near-Earth asteroid (162173) 1999 JU{sub 3} (henceforth JU{sub 3}) is a potentially hazardous asteroid and the target of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency's Hayabusa-2 sample return mission. JU{sub 3} is also a backup target for two other sample return missions: NASA's OSIRIS-REx and the European Space Agency's Marco Polo-R. We use dynamical information to identify an inner-belt, low-inclination origin through the {nu}{sub 6} resonance, more specifically, the region with 2.15 AU < a < 2.5 AU and i < 8 Degree-Sign . The geometric albedo of JU{sub 3} is 0.07 {+-} 0.01, and this inner-belt region contains four well-defined low-albedo asteroid families (Clarissa, Erigone, Polana, and Sulamitis), plus a recently identified background population of low-albedo asteroids outside these families. Only two of these five groups, the background and the Polana family, deliver JU{sub 3}-sized asteroids to the {nu}{sub 6} resonance, and the background delivers significantly more JU{sub 3}-sized asteroids. The available spectral evidence is also diagnostic; the visible and near-infrared spectra of JU{sub 3} indicate it is a C-type asteroid, which is compatible with members of the background, but not with the Polana family because it contains primarily B-type asteroids. Hence, this background population of low-albedo asteroids is the most likely source of JU{sub 3}.
- OSTI ID:
- 22122894
- Journal Information:
- Astronomical Journal (New York, N.Y. Online), Vol. 146, Issue 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1538-3881
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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