Publications (38)
A large topographic feature on the surface of the trans-Neptunian object (307261) 2002 MS measured from stellar occultations
F. L. Rommel, F. Braga-Ribas, J. L. Ortiz +201
This work aims at constraining the size, shape, and geometric albedo of the dwarf planet candidate 2002 MS4 through the analysis of nine stellar occultation events. Using multichor…
Bennu's global surface and two candidate sample sites characterized by spectral clustering of OSIRIS-REx multispectral images
J. L. Rizos, J. de Leon, J. Licandro +9
The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft encountered the asteroid (101955) Bennu on December 3, 2018, and has since acquired extensive data from the payload of scientific instruments on board. In…
Infrared Spectroscopy of V838 Monocerotis in 2015 and 2022
T. R. Geballe, B. M. Kaminskiy, D. P. K. Banerjee +5
We report medium-resolution m spectroscopy obtained in 2015 and 2022 and high resolution m and m spectroscopy obtained in 2015 of V838…
Physical properties of the trans-Neptunian object (38628) Huya from a multi-chord stellar occultation
P. Santos-Sanz, J. L. Ortiz, B. Sicardy +85
Within our international program to obtain accurate physical properties of trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) we predicted a stellar occultation by the TNO (38628) Huya of the star Gai…
An investigation of the low-DeltaV near-Earth asteroids (341843) 2008 EV5 and (52381) 1993 HA. Two suitable targets for the ARM and MarcoPolo-M5 space missions
D. Perna, M. Popescu, F. Monteiro +3
The Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) under development by NASA is being planned to collect a multi-meter boulder from a near-Earth asteroid (NEA), and to bring it to the cis-lunar s…
739 observed NEAs and new 2-4m survey statistics within the EURONEAR network
O. Vaduvescu, M. Birlan, A. Tudorica +36
We report follow-up observations of 477 program Near-Earth Asteroids (NEAs) using nine telescopes of the EURONEAR network having apertures between 0.3 and 4.2 m. Adding these NEAs…
On the statistical detection of propagating waves in polar coronal holes
G. R. Gupta, E. O'Shea, D. Banerjee +2
Waves are important for the heating of the solar corona and the acceleration of the solar wind. We have examined a long spectral time series of a northern coronal hole observed on…
Near-Earth asteroids spectroscopic survey at Isaac Newton Telescope
M. Popescu, O. Vaduvescu, J. de León +15
The population of near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) shows a large variety of objects in terms of physical and dynamical properties. They are subject to planetary encounters and to strong…
Data mining of near Earth asteroids in the Subaru Suprime-Cam archive
O. Vaduvescu, M. Conovici, M. Popescu +13
As part of the EURONEAR project, almost 70,000 mosaic Suprime-Cam images taken between 1999 and 2013 were data mined for about 9,800 near Earth asteroids (NEAs) known by 2013 May.…
The visible and near-infrared spectra of asteroids in cometary orbits
J. Licandro, M. Popescu, J. de Leon +4
We study the visible and near-infrared (NIR) spectral properties of different ACO populations and compare them to the independently determined properties of comets. We select our A…
Fabrication and characterization of suspended microstructures of ultrananocrystalline diamond
C. Pachiu, T. Sandu, C. Tibeica +6
The fabrication of various suspended microstructures made from ultra-nanocrystalline diamond was performed without sacrificial layer. Arrays of bridges and cantilevers of various d…
Dust Properties of Double-Tailed Active Asteroid (6478) Gault
F. Moreno, E. Jehin, J. Licandro +11
Asteroid (6478) Gault was discovered to exhibit a comet-like tail in observations from December 2018, becoming a new member of the so-called active asteroid population in the main…
Simultaneous LSST and Euclid observations - advantages for Solar System Objects
C. Snodgrass, B. Carry, J. Berthier +17
The ESA Euclid mission is a space telescope that will survey ~15,000 square degrees of the sky, primarily to study the distant universe (constraining cosmological parameters throug…
Why the Northern Hemisphere Needs a 30-40m Telescope and the Science at Stake: from Interstellar Visitors to Planetary Defence
J. de León, N. Pinilla-Alonso, P. Tanga +49
Small Solar system Objects (SSOs) preserve the physical, chemical, and dynamical signatures of the Sun's protoplanetary disk. Upcoming surveys will discover vast numbers of new obj…
Comparison of optical spectra between asteroids Ryugu and Bennu: II. High-precision analysis for space weathering trends
K. Yumoto, E. Tatsumi, T. Kouyama +25
The influence of space weathering on the observed spectra of C-complex asteroids remains uncertain. This has long hindered our understanding of their composition through telescope…
Observations of two super fast rotator NEAs: 2021 NY and 2022 AB
J. Licandro, M. Popescu, E. Tatsumi +5
In the framework of the Visible NEAs Observations Survey (ViNOS) that uses several telescopes at the Canary Islands observatories since 2018, we observed two super fast rotator NEA…
The multichord stellar occultation on 2019 October 22 by the trans-Neptunian object (84922) 2003 VS
M. Vara-Lubiano, G. Benedetti-Rossi, P. Santos-Sanz +60
We predicted, observed, and analyzed the multichord stellar occultation of the Second Gaia Data Release (Gaia DR2) source 3449076721168026624 (m = 14.1 mag) by the plutino obje…
Near-infrared colors of minor planets recovered from VISTA - VHS survey (MOVIS)
M. Popescu, J. Licandro, D. Morate +6
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) provide information about the surface composition of about 100,000 minor planets. The resulting v…
Physical properties of trans-Neptunian object (143707) 2003 UY117 derived from stellar occultation and photometric observations
M. Kretlow, J. L. Ortiz, J. Desmars +49
Trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) are considered to be among the most primitive objects in our Solar System. Knowledge of their primary physical properties is essential for understand…
Spectral properties of near-Earth objects with low-Jovian Tisserand invariant
N. G. Simion, M. Popescu, J. Licandro +3
The near-Earth objects with low-Jovian Tisserand invariant () represent about 9 per cent of the known objects orbiting in the near-Earth space, being subject of numerous plane…
Dozens of virtual impactor orbits eliminated by the EURONEAR VIMP DECam data mining project
O. Vaduvescu, L. Curelaru, M. Popescu +2
Massive data mining of image archives observed with large etendue facilities represents a great opportunity for orbital amelioration of poorly known virtual impactor asteroids (VIs…
Expected spectral characteristics of (101955) Bennu and (162173) Ryugu, targets of the OSIRIS-REx and Hayabusa2 missions
J. de León, H. Campins, D. Morate +9
NASA's OSIRIS-REx and JAXA's Hayabusa2 sample-return missions are currently on their way to encounter primitive near-Earth asteroids (101955) Bennu and (162173) Ryugu, respectively…
Compositional characterisation of the Themis family
M. Marsset, P. Vernazza, M. Birlan +5
Context. It has recently been proposed that the surface composition of icy main-belt asteroids (B-,C-,Cb-,Cg-,P-,and D-types) may be consistent with that of chondritic porous inter…
V-type candidates and Vesta family asteroids in the Moving Objects VISTA (MOVIS) Catalogue
J. Licandro, M. Popescu, J. de Leon +1
Basaltic asteroids (V-types) are believed to be fragments of large differentiated bodies. The majority of them are found in the inner part of the asteroid belt, and are current or…
EURONEAR - Recovery, Follow-up and Discovery of NEAs and MBAs using Large Field 1-2m Telescopes
O. Vaduvescu, M. Birlan, A. Tudorica +18
We report on the follow-up and recovery of 100 program NEAs, PHAs and VIs using the ESO/MPG 2.2m, Swope 1m and INT 2.5m telescopes equipped with large field cameras. The 127 fields…
Spectral properties of the largest asteroids associated with Taurid Complex
M. Popescu, M. Birlan, D. A. Nedelcu +2
We obtained spectra of six of the largest asteroids (2201, 4183, 4486, 5143, 6063, and 269690) associated with Taurid complex. The observations were made with the IRTF telescope eq…
Comparison of optical spectra between asteroids Ryugu and Bennu:I. Cross calibration between Hayabusa2/ONC-T and OSIRIS-REx/MapCam
K. Yumoto, E. Tatsumi, T. Kouyama +25
Asteroids (162173) Ryugu and (101955) Bennu observed by Hayabusa2 and OSIRIS-REx share many properties, but spectral observations by the telescopic Optical Navigation Camera (ONC-T…
Olivine-rich asteroids in the near-Earth space
M. Popescu, D. Perna, M. A. Barucci +6
In the framework of a 30-night spectroscopic survey of small near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) we present new results regarding the identification of olivine-rich objects. The following…
Taxonomic classification of asteroids based on MOVIS near-infrared colors
M. Popescu, J. Licandro, J. M. Carvano +5
We aim to provide a taxonomic classification for asteroids observed by VISTA-VHS survey. We derive a method for assigning a compositional type to an object based on its (Y-J), (J-K…
280 one-opposition near-Earth asteroids recovered by the EURONEAR with the Isaac Newton Telescope
O. Vaduvescu, L. Hudin, T. Mocnik +80
One-opposition near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) are growing in number, and they must be recovered to prevent loss and mismatch risk, and to improve their orbits, as they are likely to b…
Mining the ESO WFI and INT WFC archives for known Near Earth Asteroids. Mega-Precovery software
O. Vaduvescu, M. Popescu, I. Comsa +12
The ESO/MPG WFI and the INT WFC wide field archives comprising 330,000 images were mined to search for serendipitous encounters of known Near Earth Asteroids (NEAs) and Potentially…
On the statistical detection of propagating waves in polar coronal hole
G. R. Gupta, E. O'Shea, D. Banerjee +2
Waves are important for the heating of the solar corona and the acceleration of the solar wind. We have examined a long spectral time series of a southern coronal hole observed on…
In-flight calibration of ESA Hera's HyperScout-H imager
G. P. Prodan, M. Popescu, J. de León +21
ESA's Hera space mission is on its way to the mission target, the binary asteroid (65803) Didymos. HyperScout-H, one of the instruments onboard Hera, is a hyperspectral imager oper…
Tunka Advanced Instrument for cosmic rays and Gamma Astronomy
D. Kostunin, I. Astapov, P. Bezyazeekov +79
The paper is a script of a lecture given at the ISAPP-Baikal summer school in 2018. The lecture gives an overview of the Tunka Advanced Instrument for cosmic rays and Gamma Astrono…
Using artificial neural networks to improve photometric modeling in airless bodies
J. L. Rizos, A. Asensio-Ramos, D. R. Golish +6
Relevant information about physical properties of the surface of airless bodies such as porosity, particle size, or roughness can be inferred knowing the dependence of the brightne…
Characterisation of the new target of the NASA Lucy mission: asteroid 152830 Dinkinesh (1999 VD57)
J. de León, J. Licandro, N. Pinilla-Alonso +3
The NASA Lucy mission is aimed at the study of the very interesting population of Jupiter Trojans, considered as time capsules from the origin of our solar system. During its journ…
Physical characterization of 2020 AV2, the first known asteroid orbiting inside Venus orbit
M. Popescu, J. de León, C. de la Fuente Marcos +8
The first known asteroid with the orbit inside that of Venus is 2020~AV. This may be the largest member of a new population of small bodies with the aphelion smaller than 0.7…
Visible and near-infrared observations of interstellar comet 2I/Borisov with the 10.4-m GTC and the 3.6-m TNG telescopes
J. de León, J. Licandro, C. de la Fuente Marcos +15
In this work, we present the results of an observational study of 2I/Borisov carried out with the 10.4-m Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) and the 3.6-m Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (…