Title
(16) Psyche: A mesosiderite-like asteroid?
Date Issued
01 November 2018
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Viikinkoski M.
Vernazza P.
Hanuš J.
Le Coroller H.
Tazhenova K.
Carry B.
Marsset M.
Drouard A.
Marchis F.
Fetick R.
Fusco T.
Ďurech J.
Birlan M.
Berthier J.
Bartczak P.
Dumas C.
Castillo-Rogez J.
Cipriani F.
Ferrais M.
Grice J.
Jehin E.
Jorda L.
Kaasalainen M.
Kryszczynska A.
Lamy P.
Marciniak A.
Michalowski T.
Michel P.
Podlewska-Gaca E.
Santana-Ros T.
Tanga P.
Vachier F.
Vigan A.
Warner B.
Witasse O.
Yang B.
Publisher(s)
EDP Sciences
Abstract
Context. Asteroid (16) Psyche is the target of the NASA Psyche mission. It is considered one of the few main-belt bodies that could be an exposed proto-planetary metallic core and that would thus be related to iron meteorites. Such an association is however challenged by both its near- and mid-infrared spectral properties and the reported estimates of its density. Aims. Here, we aim to refine the density of (16) Psyche to set further constraints on its bulk composition and determine its potential meteoritic analog. Methods. We observed (16) Psyche with ESO VLT/SPHERE/ZIMPOL as part of our large program (ID 199.C-0074). We used the high angular resolution of these observations to refine Psyche's three-dimensional (3D) shape model and subsequently its density when combined with the most recent mass estimates. In addition, we searched for potential companions around the asteroid. Results. We derived a bulk density of 3.99 ± 0.26 ± cm-3 for Psyche. While such density is incompatible at the 3-sigma level with any iron meteorites (∼7.8 ± cm-3), it appears fully consistent with that of stony-iron meteorites such as mesosiderites (density ∼4.25 ± cm-3). In addition, we found no satellite in our images and set an upper limit on the diameter of any non-detected satellite of 1460 ± 200 m at 150 km from Psyche (0.2% × RHill, the Hill radius) and 800 ± 200 m at 2000 km (3% × RHill). Conclusions. Considering that the visible and near-infrared spectral properties of mesosiderites are similar to those of Psyche, there is merit to a long-published initial hypothesis that Psyche could be a plausible candidate parent body for mesosiderites.
Volume
619
Number
L3
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Astronomía
Geología
Subjects
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85056511149
Source
Astronomy and Astrophysics
ISSN of the container
00046361
Sponsor(s)
Some of the work presented here is based on observations collected 1) at the European Organization for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere under ESO programs 086.C-0785 (PI Carry) and 199.C-0074 (PI Vernazza); 2) by SuperWASP (DR1) (Butters et al. 2010) as provided by the WASP consortium, and the computing and storage facilities at the CERIT Scientific Cloud, reg. no. CZ.1.05/3.2.00/08.0144 which is operated by Masaryk University, Czech Republic; and 3) the W. M. Keck Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the University of California and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Observatory was made possible by the generous financial support of the W. M. Keck Foundation. This research has made use of the Keck Observatory Archive (KOA), which is operated by the W. M. Keck Observatory and the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute (NExScI), under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. M. Viikinkoski and M. Kaasalainen were supported by the Academy of Finland Centre of Excellence in Inverse Problems. B. Carry, A. Drouard, J. Grice and P. Vernazza were supported by CNRS/INSU/PNP. J. Hanus and J. Durech were supported by the grant 18-09470S of the Czech Science Foundation. This work has been supported by Charles University Research program No. UNCE/SCI/023. F. Marchis was supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No 1743015. The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme, under Grant Agreement no 687378. The authors wish to recognize and acknowledge the very significant cultural role and reverence that the summit of Mauna Kea has always had within the indigenous Hawaiian community. We are most fortunate to have the opportunity to conduct observations from this mountain. Thanks to all the amateurs worldwide who regularly observe asteroid lightcurves and stellar occultations. Co-authors of this study are amateurs who observed Psyche, and provided crucial data.
Acknowledgements. Some of the work presented here is based on observations collected 1) at the European Organization for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere under ESO programs 086.C-0785 (PI Carry) and 199.C-0074 (PI Vernazza); 2) by SuperWASP (DR1) (Butters et al. 2010) as provided by the WASP consortium, and the computing and storage facilities at the CERIT Scientific Cloud, reg. no. CZ.1.05/3.2.00/08.0144 which is operated by Masaryk University, Czech Republic; and 3) the W. M. Keck Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the University of California and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Observatory was made possible by the generous financial support of the W. M. Keck Foundation. This research has made use of the Keck Observatory Archive (KOA), which is operated by the W. M. Keck Observatory and the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute (NExScI), under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. M. Viikinkoski and M. Kaasalainen were supported by the Academy of Finland Centre of Excellence in Inverse Problems. B. Carry, A. Drouard, J. Grice and P. Vernazza were supported by CNRS/INSU/PNP. J. Hanus and J. Durech were supported by the grant 18-09470S of the Czech Science Foundation. This work has been supported by Charles University Research program No. UNCE/SCI/023. F. Marchis was supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No 1743015. The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme, under Grant Agreement no 687378. The authors wish to recognize and acknowledge the very significant cultural role and reverence that the summit of Mauna Kea has always had within the indigenous Hawaiian community. We are most fortunate to have the opportunity to conduct observations from this mountain. Thanks to all the amateurs worldwide who regularly observe asteroid lightcurves and stellar occultations. Co-authors of this study are amateurs who observed Psyche, and provided crucial data. The authors acknowledge the use of the Virtual Observatory tools Miriade: http://vo. imcce.fr/webservices/miriade/ (Berthier et al. 2008), TOPCAT: http: //www.star.bris.ac.uk/~mbt/topcat/, and STILTS: http://www.star. bris.ac.uk/~mbt/stilts/ (Taylor 2005). This research used the SSOIS: http://www.cadc-ccda.hia-iha.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/en/ssois facility of the Canadian Astronomy Data Centre operated by the National Research Council of Canada with the support of the Canadian Space Agency (Gwyn et al. 2012).
Key words. minor planets, asteroids: general – minor planets, asteroids: individual: (16) Psyche – methods: observational – techniques: high angular resolution ★ Based on observations made with 1) ESO Telescopes at the La Silla Paranal Observatory under programs 086.C-0785 (PI Carry) and 199.C-0074 (PI Vernazza); and 2) the W. M. Keck Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the University of California and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Observatory was made possible by the generous financial support of the W. M. Keck Foundation.
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