Title
The small binary asteroid (939) Isberga
Date Issued
01 March 2015
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Carry B.
Matter A.
Scheirich P.
Pravec P.
Molnar L.
Mottola S.
Carbognani A.
Jehin E.
Marciniak A.
Binzel R.P.
DeMeo F.E.
Birlan M.
Delbo M.
Barbotin E.
Behrend R.
Bonnardeau M.
Farissier P.
Fauvaud M.
Fauvaud S.
Gillier C.
Gillon M.
Hellmich S.
Hirsch R.
Leroy A.
Manfroid J.
Montier J.
Morelle E.
Richard F.
Sobkowiak K.
Strajnic J.
Vachier F.
IMCCE
Publisher(s)
Academic Press Inc.
Abstract
In understanding the composition and internal structure of asteroids, their density is perhaps the most diagnostic quantity. We aim here at characterizing the surface composition, mutual orbit, size, mass, and density of the small main-belt binary asteroid (939) Isberga. For that, we conduct a suite of multi-technique observations, including optical lightcurves over many epochs, near-infrared spectroscopy, and interferometry in the thermal infrared. We develop a simple geometric model of binary systems to analyze the interferometric data in combination with the results of the lightcurve modeling. From spectroscopy, we classify Ibserga as a Sq-type asteroid, consistent with the albedo of 0.14-0.06+0.09 (all uncertainties are reported as 3- σ range) we determine (average albedo of S-types is 0.197. ±. 0.153, see Pravec et al. (Pravec et al. [2012]. Icarus 221, 365-387). Lightcurve analysis reveals that the mutual orbit has a period of 26.6304. ±. 0.0001. h, is close to circular (eccentricity lower than 0.1), and has pole coordinates within 7° of (225°, +86°) in Ecliptic J2000, implying a low obliquity of 1.5-1.5+6.0deg. The combined analysis of lightcurves and interferometric data allows us to determine the dimension of the system and we find volume-equivalent diameters of 12.4-1.2+2.5km and 3.6-0.3+0.7km for Isberga and its satellite, circling each other on a 33. km wide orbit. Their density is assumed equal and found to be 2.91-2.01+1.72gcm-3, lower than that of the associated ordinary chondrite meteorites, suggesting the presence of some macroporosity, but typical of S-types of the same size range (Carry [2012]. Planet. Space Sci. 73, 98-118). The present study is the first direct measurement of the size of a small main-belt binary. Although the interferometric observations of Isberga are at the edge of MIDI capabilities, the method described here is applicable to others suites of instruments (e.g., LBT, ALMA).
Start page
516
End page
525
Volume
248
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Astronomía
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-84916620109
Source
Icarus
ISSN of the container
00191035
Sponsor(s)
We acknowledge support from the Faculty of the European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) for the visits of M. Delbo and A. “Momo” Matter. The work by P.S. and P.P. was supported by the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic, Grant P209/12/0229, and by Program RVO 67985815. A. Matter acknowledges financial support from the Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES). TRAPPIST is a project funded by the Belgian Fund for Scientific Research (Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique, F.R.S.-FNRS) E. Jehin and M. Gillon are FNRS Research Associates, and Jean Manfroid is Research Director of the FNRS. Part of the data utilized in this publication were obtained and made available by the MIT-UH-IRTF Joint Campaign for NEO Reconnaissance. The IRTF is operated by the University of Hawaii under Cooperative Agreement No. NCC 5–538 with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Office of Space Science, Planetary Astronomy Program. The MIT component of this work is supported by NASA Grant 09-NEOO009–0001, and by the National Science Foundation under Grant Nos. 0506716 and 0907766. F.E.D. acknowledges funding from NASA under Grant No. NNX12AL26G and Hubble Fellowship Grant HST-HF-51319.01-A. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of NASA or the National Science Foundation. This research utilizes spectra acquired by Jeffery F. Bell with the NASA RELAB facility at Brown University.
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