PHYSICAL PARAMETERS OF ASTEROIDS ESTIMATED FROM THE WISE 3-BAND DATA AND NEOWISE POST-CRYOGENIC SURVEY

Journal Article · Tue Nov 20 04:00:00 EST 2012 · Astrophysical Journal Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/760/1/L12· OSTI ID:22078415

Mainzer, A; Masiero, J; Bauer, J ^[1]; Grav, T ^[2]; Cutri, R M ^[3]; McMillan, R S ^[4]; Nugent, C R ^[5]; Tholen, D ^[6]; Walker, R ^[7]

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1. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109 (United States)
2. Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, AZ 85719 (United States)
3. Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States)
4. Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, 1629 East University Boulevard, Tucson, AZ 85721-0092 (United States)
5. Department of Earth and Space Sciences, UCLA, 595 Charles Young Drive East, Box 951567, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1567 (United States)
6. Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822 (United States)
7. Monterey Institute for Research in Astronomy, Monterey, CA 93933 (United States)

Enhancements to the science data processing pipeline of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission, collectively known as NEOWISE, resulted in the detection of >158,000 minor planets in four infrared wavelengths during the fully cryogenic portion of the mission. Following the depletion of its cryogen, NASA's Planetary Science Directorate funded a four-month extension to complete the survey of the inner edge of the Main Asteroid Belt and to detect and discover near-Earth objects (NEOs). This extended survey phase, known as the NEOWISE Post-Cryogenic Survey, resulted in the detection of {approx}6500 large Main Belt asteroids and 86 NEOs in its 3.4 and 4.6 {mu}m channels. During the Post-Cryogenic Survey, NEOWISE discovered and detected a number of asteroids co-orbital with the Earth and Mars, including the first known Earth Trojan. We present preliminary thermal fits for these and other NEOs detected during the 3-Band Cryogenic and Post-Cryogenic Surveys.

• OSTI ID: 22078415
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal Letters, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Letters Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 760; ISSN 2041-8205
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
ASTEROIDS
CRYOGENIC FLUIDS
DATA PROCESSING
DETECTION
EARTH PLANET
INFRARED SURVEYS
MARS PLANET
NASA
WAVELENGTHS