Bibcode
Brunetto, R.; de Léon, J.; Licandro, J.
Bibliographical reference
European Planetary Science Congress 2007, Proceedings of a conference held 20-24 August, 2007 in Potsdam, Germany. Online at http://meetings.copernicus.org/epsc2007, p.689
Advertised on:
8
2007
Citations
0
Refereed citations
0
Description
A-type asteroid (1951) Lick has a very red visible and near-infrared
reflectance spectrum, and it is one of the reddest Near-Earth objects.
Its surface is probably affected by heavy space weathering processes. We
investigate the possibility of a weathering saturation regime. We
compare Lick's spectrum with those of silicate olivine after laser
ablation experiments, and apply scattering and space weathering models.
We successfully fit the spectrum of Lick, in terms of slope, band
profile, and albedo. Results confirm that Lick has olivine with Mg
number higher than that of the Brachina meteorite. The use of metallic
iron inclusions in the model yields a product of volume fraction of
inclusions times effective optical path length of about 0.039 microns,
similarly to what observed experimentally after UV laser ablation of
Mg-rich olivine. The surface of Lick is extremely weathered, indicating
a saturation regime similar to what observed in the laboratory, and
suggesting that the asteroid surface is probably older than about 10-100
Myr.