Physical Modeling Of Triple Near-Earth Asteroid (153591) 2001 Sn263 From Radar And Optical Light Curve Observations
Keywords
Asteroid; Asteroids, rotation; Near-Earth objects; Photometry; Radar observations; Satellites of asteroids
Abstract
We report radar observations (2380-MHz, 13-cm) by the Arecibo Observatory and optical light curves observed from eight different observatories and collected at the Ondřejov Observatory of the triple near-Earth asteroid system (153591) 2001 SN263. The radar observations were obtained over the course of ten nights spanning February 12-26, 2008 and the light curve observations were made throughout January 12 - March 31, 2008. Both data sets include observations during the object's close approach of 0.06558AU on February 20th, 2008. The delay-Doppler images revealed the asteroid to be comprised of three components, making it the first known triple near-Earth asteroid. Only one other object, (136617) 1994 CC is a confirmed triple near-Earth asteroid.We present physical models of the three components of the asteroid system. We constrain the primary's pole direction to an ecliptic longitude and latitude of (309°, -80°)±15°. We find that the primary rotates with a period 3.4256±0.0002h and that the larger satellite has a rotation period of 13.43±0.01h, considerably shorter than its orbital period of approximately 6days. We find that the rotation period of the smaller satellite is consistent with a tidally locked state and therefore rotates with a period of 0.686±0.002 days (Fang et al. [2011]. Astron. J. 141, 154-168). The primary, the larger satellite, and the smaller satellite have equivalent diameters of 2.5±0.3km, 0.77±0.12km, 0.43±0.14km and densities of 1.1±0.2g/cm3, 1.0±0.4g/cm3, 2.3±1.3g/cm3, respectively.
Publication Date
3-1-2015
Publication Title
Icarus
Volume
248
Number of Pages
499-515
Document Type
Article
Personal Identifier
scopus
DOI Link
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2014.10.048
Copyright Status
Unknown
Socpus ID
84916622994 (Scopus)
Source API URL
https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/84916622994
STARS Citation
Becker, Tracy M.; Howell, Ellen S.; Nolan, Michael C.; Magri, Christopher; and Pravec, Petr, "Physical Modeling Of Triple Near-Earth Asteroid (153591) 2001 Sn263 From Radar And Optical Light Curve Observations" (2015). Scopus Export 2015-2019. 934.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/scopus2015/934