Bibcode
Landsman, Z. A.; Licandro, J.; Campins, Humberto; Ziffer, Julie; de Prá, Mario
Referencia bibliográfica
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #227, id.#141.16
Fecha de publicación:
1
2016
Número de citas
0
Número de citas referidas
0
Descripción
Spectroscopic studies of primitive asteroid families provide constraints
on the composition of the solar nebula and the distribution of volatiles
in the asteroid belt. Results from visible and near-infrared
spectroscopy show diversity between primitive families. We aim to better
constrain the composition of two primitive families with very different
ages: Themis (~2.5 Gyr) and Veritas (~8 Myr). We analyzed 5 - 14 μm
Spitzer Space Telescope spectra of 11 Themis asteroids and nine Veritas
asteroids, for a total of 20 asteroids. We report the presence of a
broad 10-μm emission feature, attributed to a layer of fine-grained
silicates, in the spectra of all 11 Themis asteroids and six of nine
Veritas asteroids in our sample. Spectral contrast in statistically
significant detections of the 10-μm feature ranges from 1% ±
0.1% to 8.5% ± 0.9%. Comparison with the spectra of primitive
meteorites (McAdam et al. 2015, Icarus, 245, 320) suggests asteroids in
both families are similar to meteorites with lower abundances of
phyllosilicates. We used the Near-Earth Asteroid Thermal Model to derive
diameters, beaming parameters and albedos for our sample. Asteroids in
both families have beaming parameters near unity and low to moderate
albedos. We find that contrast of the silicate emission feature is not
correlated with asteroid diameter; however, higher 10-μm contrast may
be associated with flatter spectral slopes in the near-infrared. The
spectra of both families are consistent with icy bodies with some amount
of fine-grained silicates, but with coarser grains or denser surface
structure than Trojan asteroids and comets. The range of spectral
contrast of the 10-μm emission feature within each family suggests
diversity in regolith porosity and/or grain size.