Publications (39)
Terrestrial Exoplanet Light Curves
Eric Gaidos, Nicholas Moskovitz, Darren M. Williams
The phase or orbital light curves of extrasolar terrestrial planets in reflected or emitted light will contain information about their atmospheres and surfaces complementary to dat…
NEO Colors from The Mission Accessible Near-Earth Object Survey (MANOS)
Nicholas Moskovitz, Theodore Kareta, Samantha Hemmelgarn +13
We present spectro-photometric griz colors for 189 near-Earth objects (NEOs) collected by the Mission Accessible Near-Earth Object Survey (MANOS). Data acquisition involved non-sim…
A Spectroscopic Comparison of HED Meteorites and V-type Asteroids in the Inner Main Belt
Nicholas Moskovitz, Mark Willman, Thomas Burbine +2
V-type asteroids in the inner Main Belt (a < 2.5 AU) and the HED meteorites are thought to be genetically related to one another as collisional fragments from the surface of the la…
Photometry of the Didymos system across the DART impact apparition
Nicholas Moskovitz, Cristina Thomas, Petr Pravec +78
On 26 September 2022, the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft impacted Dimorphos, the satellite of binary near-Earth asteroid (65803) Didymos. This demonstrated the…
Implications for the Formation of 2005 UD from a New Convex Shape Model
Jay K. Kueny, Colin Orion Chandler, Maxime Devogèle +15
(155140) 2005 UD has a similar orbit to (3200) Phaethon, an active asteroid in a highly eccentric orbit thought to be the source of the Geminid meteor shower. Evidence points to a…
Differentiation of Planetesimals and the Thermal Consequences of Melt Migration
Nicholas Moskovitz, Eric Gaidos
We model the heating of a primordial planetesimal by decay of the short-lived radionuclides Al-26 and Fe-60 to determine (i) the timescale on which melting will occur; (ii) the min…
Science Commissioning of NIHTS: The Near-infrared High Throughput Spectrograph on the Lowell Discovery Telescope
Annika Gustafsson, Nicholas Moskovitz, Michael C. Cushing +3
The Near-Infrared High Throughput Spectrograph (NIHTS) is in operation on the 4.3 m Lowell Discovery Telescope (LDT) in Happy Jack, AZ. NIHTS is a low-resolution spectrograph (R~20…
Searching for color variation on fast rotating asteroids with simultaneous V-J observations
David Polishook, Nicholas Moskovitz
Boulders, rocks and regolith on fast rotating asteroids (<2.5 hours) are modeled to slide towards the equator due to a strong centrifugal force and a low cohesion force. As a resul…
Link between the Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (86039) 1999 NC43 and the Chelyabinsk meteoroid tenuous
Vishnu Reddy, David Vokrouhlický, William F. Bottke +15
We explored the statistical and compositional link between Chelyabinsk meteoroid and potentially hazardous asteroid (86039) 1999 NC43 to investigate their proposed relation propose…
Astrometric follow-up of near-Earth asteroid 2024 YR4 during a Torino scale level 3 alert
Marco Micheli, Maxime Devogèle, Larry Denneau +38
The discovery of 2024 YR4 presented the planetary defense community with the most significant impact threat in almost two decades, reaching level 3 on the Torino scale. The communi…
Telescope-to-Fireball Characterization of Earth Impactor 2022 WJ1
Theodore Kareta, Denis Vida, Marco Micheli +10
Comparing how an asteroid appears in space to its ablation behavior during atmospheric passage and finally to the properties of associated meteorites represents the ultimate probe…
Ejecta Evolution Following a Planned Impact into an Asteroid: The First Five Weeks
Theodore Kareta, Cristina Thomas, Jian-Yang Li +85
The impact of the DART spacecraft into Dimorphos, moon of the asteroid Didymos, changed Dimorphos' orbit substantially, largely from the ejection of material. We present results fr…
A common origin for dynamically associated near-Earth asteroid pairs
Nicholas Moskovitz, Petr Fatka, Davide Farnocchia +19
Though pairs of dynamically associated asteroids in the Main Belt have been identified and studied for over a decade, very few pair systems have been identified in the near-Earth a…
On The Lunar Origin of Near-Earth Asteroid 2024 PT5
Theodore Kareta, Oscar Fuentes-Muñoz, Nicholas Moskovitz +2
The Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA) 2024 PT5 is on an Earth-like orbit which remained in Earth's immediate vicinity for several months at the end of 2024. PT5's orbit is challenging to p…
(6478) Gault: Physical characterization of an active main-belt asteroid
Maxime Devogèle, Marin Ferrais, Emmanuel Jehin +22
In December 2018, the main-belt asteroid (6478)~Gault was reported to display activity. Gault is an asteroid belonging to the Phocaea dynamical family and was not previously known…
Establishing Earth's Minimoon Population through Characterization of Asteroid 2020 CD
Grigori Fedorets, Marco Micheli, Robert Jedicke +20
We report on our detailed characterization of Earth's second known temporary natural satellite, or minimoon, asteroid 2020 CD3. An artificial origin can be ruled out based on its a…
Observational Investigation of the 2013 Near-Earth Encounter by Asteroid (367943) Duende
Nicholas Moskovitz, Conor Benson, Daniel Scheeres +20
On 15 February 2013, the asteroid 367943 Duende (2012 DA14) experienced a near-Earth encounter at an altitude of 27,700 km or 4.2 Earth radii. We present here the results of an ext…
JWST sighting of decameter main-belt asteroids and view on meteorite sources
Artem Y. Burdanov, Julien de Wit, Miroslav Brož +19
Asteroid discoveries are essential for planetary-defense efforts aiming to prevent impacts with Earth, including the more frequent megaton explosions from decameter impactors. Whil…
Spectroscopic Confirmation that 2MASS J07414279-0506464 is a Mid-Type L Dwarf
Michael C. Cushing, Nicholas Moskovitz, Annika Gustafsson
We present a low-resolution near-infrared spectrum of 2MASS J07414279-0506464, a mid-type L dwarf candidate recently identified by Scholz & Bell. The spectrum was obtained using th…
New Jupiter Satellites and Moon-Moon Collisions
Scott Sheppard, Gareth Williams, David Tholen +7
We report the discovery of 12 new satellites of Jupiter, giving Jupiter 79 known satellites. The new finds are between 23rd-24th mag in the r-band and 1-3 km in diameter assuming d…
A Machine Learning Approach to Meteor Classification
Samantha Hemmelgarn, Nicholas Moskovitz, Denis Vida
We use machine learning to develop a framework for classifying meteoroids based on 13 directly observed parameters from the Global Meteor Network. This method adds depth to the $K_…
How Meteor Showers Can Guide the Search for Long Period Comets
Samantha Hemmelgarn, Nicholas Moskovitz, Stuart Pilorz +1
With orbital periods longer than 200 years, most long-period comets (LPCs) remain undiscovered until they are in-bound towards perihelion. The comets that pass close to Earth's orb…
The fast spin of near-Earth asteroid (455213) 2001 OE84, revisited after 14 years: constraints on internal structure
David Polishook, Nicholas Moskovitz, Audrey Thirouin +5
At a mean diameter of ~650 m, the near-Earth asteroid (455213) 2001 OE84 (OE84 for short) has a rapid rotation period of 0.486542+-0.000002 hours, which is uncommon for asteroids l…
Observing Near-Earth Objects with the James Webb Space Telescope
Cristina A. Thomas, Paul Abell, Julie Castillo-Rogez +6
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has the potential to enhance our understanding of near-Earth objects (NEOs). We present results of investigations into the observability of NE…
Colors of Dynamically Associated Asteroid Pairs
Nicholas Moskovitz
Recent dynamical studies have identified pairs of asteroids that reside in nearly identical heliocentric orbits. Possible formation scenarios for these systems include dissociation…
The Non-Principal-Axis Rotation and Convex Shape Model of Earth Quasi-Satellite and the Target of China's Tianwen-2 Mission (469219) Kamo`oalewa
Xiaoyu Sun, Zhijun Song, Hanjie Tan +8
(469219) Kamo`oalewa is the most stable Earth quasi-satellite and the target of China's Tianwen-2 asteroid sample return mission. Due to its small size, fast rotation, and the limi…
Redetermination of the space weathering rate using spectra of Iannini asteroid family members
Mark Willman, Robert Jedicke, David Nesvorný +3
Rewriting a shorter abstract.
Rotational Characterization of Hayabusa II Target Asteroid (162173) 1999 JU3
Nicholas Moskovitz, Shinsuke Abe, Kang-Shian Pan +9
The Japanese Space Agency's Hayabusa II mission is scheduled to rendezvous with and return a sample from the near-Earth asteroid (162173) 1999 JU3. Previous visible-wavelength spec…
Design and Performance of the Upgraded Mid-InfraRed Spectrometer and Imager (MIRSI) on the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility
Joseph L. Hora, David E. Trilling, Andy J. Lopez-Oquendo +12
We describe the new design and current performance of the Mid-InfraRed Spectrometer and Imager (MIRSI) on the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF). The system has been converted…
Rotationally Resolved Spectroscopy of Asteroid Pairs: No Spectral Variation Suggests Fission is followed by Settling of Dust
David Polishook, Nicholas Moskovitz, Francesca DeMeo +1
We examine the spectral properties of asteroid pairs that were disrupted in the last 2 Myrs to examine whether the site of the fission can be revealed. We studied the possibility t…
Visible spectroscopy from the Mission Accessible Near-Earth Object Survey (MANOS): Taxonomic dependence on asteroid size
Maxime Devogele, Nicholas Moskovitz, Audrey Thirouin +14
The Mission Accessible Near-Earth Object Survey (MANOS) aims to observe and characterize small (mean absolute magnitude H ~ 25 mag) Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) that are accessible by…
Optical Properties of (162173) 1999 JU3: In Preparation for the JAXA Hayabusa 2 Sample Return Mission
Masateru Ishiguro, Daisuke Kuroda, Sunao Hasegawa +31
We investigated the magnitude-phase relation of (162173) 1999 JU3, a target asteroid for the JAXA Hayabusa 2 sample return mission. We initially employed the international Astronom…
Rapid-response characterization of near-Earth asteroid 2024 YR4 during a Torino Scale 3 alert
Maxime Devogèle, Olivier R. Hainaut, Marco Micheli +32
On 27 December 2024, near-Earth object (NEO) 2024 YR was discovered by the ATLAS survey and identified as a virtual impactor. A few weeks later, it eventually reached level 3 o…
Observations of "Fresh" and Weathered Surfaces on Asteroid Pairs and Their Implications on the Rotational-Fission Mechanism
David Polishook, Nicholas Moskovitz, Richard P. Binzel +4
The rotational-fission of a rubble-pile asteroid can result in an "asteroid pair", two un-bound asteroids sharing similar orbits. This mechanism might exposes material that previou…
Physical Characterization of ~2-meter Diameter Near-Earth Asteroid 2015 TC25: A possible boulder from E-type Asteroid (44) Nysa
Vishnu Reddy, Juan A. Sanchez, William F. Bottke +11
Small near-Earth asteroids (>20 meters) are interesting because they are progenitors for meteorites in our terrestrial collection. Crucial to our understanding of the effectiveness…
Twenty years of SpeX: Accuracy limits of spectral slope measurements in asteroid spectroscopy
Michael Marsset, Francesca E. DeMeo, Richard P. Binzel +8
We examined two decades of SpeX/NASA Infrared Telescope Facility observations from the Small Main-Belt Asteroid Spectroscopic Survey (SMASS) and the MIT-Hawaii Near-Earth Object Sp…
First Results from the rapid-response spectrophotometric characterization of Near-Earth Objects
Samuel Navarro-Meza, Michael Mommert, David Trilling +6
As part of our multi-observatory, multi-filter campaign, we present \rmi color observations of 82 Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) obtained with the RATIR instrument on the 1.5m robotic t…
Main Belt Asteroid Shape Distribution from Gaia DR2
Michael Mommert, Andrew McNeill, David E. Trilling +2
Gaia Data Release 2 includes observational data for 14,099 pre-selected asteroids. From the sparsely sampled G band photometry, we derive lower-limit lightcurve amplitudes for 11,6…
Using the youngest asteroid clusters to constrain the Space Weathering and Gardening rate on S-complex asteroids
Mark Willman, Robert Jedicke, Nicholas Moskovitz +3
We have extended our earlier work on space weathering of the youngest S-complex asteroid families to include results from asteroid clusters with ages <10^6 years and to newly ident…