Bibcode
Landsman, Z. A.; Licandro, J.; Campins, H.; Ziffer, J.; de Prá, M.; Cruikshank, D. P.
Bibliographical reference
Icarus, Volume 269, p. 62-74.
Advertised on:
5
2016
Journal
Citations
14
Refereed citations
14
Description
Spectroscopic investigations of primitive asteroid families constrain
family evolution and composition and conditions in the solar nebula, and
reveal information about past and present distributions of volatiles in
the solar system. Visible and near-infrared studies of primitive
asteroid families have shown spectral diversity between and within
families. Here, we aim to better understand the composition and physical
properties of two primitive families with vastly different ages: ancient
Themis (∼2.5 Gyr) and young Veritas (∼8 Myr). We
analyzed the 5 - 14 μm Spitzer Space Telescope spectra of 11
Themis-family asteroids, including eight previously studied by Licandro
et al. (2012), and nine Veritas-family asteroids, for a total of 20
asteroids in our sample. We detect a broad 10-μm emission feature,
attributed to fine-grained and/or porous silicate regolith, in all 11
Themis-family spectra and six of nine Veritas-family asteroids, with
10-μm spectral contrast ranging from 1% ± 0.1% to 8.5%
± 0.9%. We used thermal modeling to derive diameters, beaming
parameters and albedos for our sample. Asteroids in both families have
beaming parameters near unity and geometric albedos in the range 0.03 -
0.14. Spectral contrast of the 10-μm silicate emission feature is
correlated with beaming parameter and rotation period in the Themis
family, and may be related to near-infrared spectral slope for both
families. We see no correlations of 10-μm emission with diameter or
albedo for either family. Comparison with laboratory spectra of
primitive meteorites suggests these asteroids are similar to meteorites
with relatively low abundances of phyllosilicates. Overall, our results
suggest the Themis and Veritas families are primitive asteroids with
variation in composition and/or regolith properties within both
families.