Charge-coupled device spectra of asteroids. I. Near-earth and 3:1 resonance asteroids

Journal Article · Fri Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1990 · Astronomical Journal; (USA)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1086/115481· OSTI ID:6689617

Luu, J X; Jewitt, D C ^[1]

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1. MIT, Cambridge, MA (USA) Hawaii Univ., Honolulu (USA)

Main-belt asteroids and cometary nuclei are both frequently suggested sources of the relatively short-lived near-earth asteroids (NEAs). The asteroidal origin hypothesis is studied by obtaining new high-quality reflectivity spectra of 19 NEAs and 23 asteroids near the 3:1 resonance, and by performing a systematic comparison of these two groups of spectra. Nonparametric statistical tests are used to check for consistency between the color distributions of the two populations. The tests indicate that the difference between the two distributions is generally not significant at the 3 sigma level. However, this conclusion is dependent on the (unknown) size distribution of the NEAs. The observations are compatible with the hypothesis that the NEAs are derived from the 3:1 resonance region, but do not imply that this is the only possible source region. 46 refs.

• OSTI ID: 6689617
• Journal Information: Astronomical Journal; (USA), Journal Name: Astronomical Journal; (USA) Vol. 99; ISSN 0004-6256; ISSN ANJOA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640107* -- Astrophysics & Cosmology-- Planetary Phenomena
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ASTEROIDS
ASTRONOMY
CHARGE-COUPLED DEVICES
COMETS
EARTH PLANET
MATHEMATICS
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
ORBITS
ORIGIN
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
PLANETS
REFLECTIVITY
SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES
SPECTROSCOPY
STATISTICS
SURFACE PROPERTIES