Determination of Size, Albedo, and Thermal Inertia of 10 Vesta Family Asteroids with WISE/NEOWISE Observations

Journal Article · Mon Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 2020 · The Astronomical Journal (Online)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/AB8AF5· OSTI ID:23013232

Jiang, Haoxuan; Ji, Jianghui ^[1]; Yu, Liangliang ^[2]

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1. CAS Key Laboratory of Planetary Sciences, Purple Mountain Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008 (China)
2. State Key Laboratory of Lunar and Planetary Science, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macau (China)

In this work, we investigate the size, thermal inertia, surface roughness, and geometric albedo of 10 Vesta family asteroids using the Advanced Thermophysical Model, based on the thermal-infrared data acquired by mainly NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer. Here, we show that the average thermal inertia and geometric albedo of the investigated Vesta family members are 42 J m{sup −2} s{sup −1/2} K{sup −1} and 0.314, respectively, where the derived effective diameters are less than 10 km. Moreover, the family members have a relatively low roughness fraction on their surfaces. The similarity in thermal inertia and geometric albedo among the V-type Vesta family members may reveal their close connection in origin and evolution. As the fragments of the cratering event of Vesta, the family members may have undergone a similar evolutionary process, thereby leading to very close thermal properties. Finally, we estimate their regolith grain sizes with different volume filling factors.

• OSTI ID: 23013232
• Journal Information: The Astronomical Journal (Online), Journal Name: The Astronomical Journal (Online) Journal Issue: 6 Vol. 159; ISSN 1538-3881
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
ASTEROIDS
INFRARED SURVEYS
THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES