Brightness variation distributions among main belt asteroids from sparse light curve sampling with Pan-STARRS 1

Abstract

The rotational state of asteroids is controlled by various physical mechanisms including collisions, internal damping and the Yarkovsky-O'Keefe-Radzievskii-Paddack (YORP) effect. We have analysed the changes in magnitude between consecutive detections of approximately 60,000 asteroids measured by the PanSTARRS 1 survey during its first 18 months of operations. We have attempted to explain the derived brightness changes physically and through the application of a simple model. We have found a tendency toward smaller magnitude variations with decreasing diameter for objects of 1 < D < 8 km. Assuming the shape distribution of objects in this size range to be independent of size and composition our model suggests a population with average axial ratios 1 : 0.85 \pm 0.13 : 0.71 \pm 0.13, with larger objects more likely to have spin axes perpendicular to the orbital plane.

10 pages, 10 figures, accepted by MNRAS

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• Discovery of Super-Slow Rotating Asteroids with ATLAS and ZTF photometry
• Main Belt Asteroid Shape Distribution from Gaia DR2
• Distribution of shape elongations of main belt asteroids derived from Pan-STARRS1 photometry
• Dust bombardment can explain the extremely elongated shape of 1I/'Oumuamua and the lack of interstellar objects
• Asteroid Photometry from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite: A Pilot Study
• Constraining the Shape Distribution of Near Earth Objects from Partial Lightcurves
• Extreme asteroids in the Pan-STARRS 1 Survey
• Shape and spin distributions of asteroid populations from brightness variation estimates and large databases
• Basis functions and uniqueness in orbit-averaged population analysis of asteroids
• Searching for Super-Fast Rotators Using the Pan-STARRS 1