Non-Vestoid candidate asteroids in the inner main belt
arXiv:1612.07788 · doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201629551
Abstract
Most Howardite-Eucrite-Diogenite (HED) meteorites (analogs to V-type asteroids) are thought to originate from asteroid (4) Vesta. However, some HEDs show distinct oxygen isotope ratios and therefore are thought to originate from other asteroids. In this study, we try to identify asteroids that may represent parent bodies of those mismatching HEDs. In particular, the origin of the anomalous Bunburra Rockhole meteorite was traced back to the inner main asteroid belt, showing that there might be asteroids that are not genetically linked to the asteroid (4) Vesta (the main source of V-type asteroids and HED meteorites) in the inner main belt. In this work we identify V-type asteroids outside the dynamical Vesta family whose rotational properties (retrograde vs prograde rotation) suggest the direction of Yarkovsky drift that sets them apart from typical Vestoids and Vesta fugitives. Specifically Nesvorny et al. 2008 simulated escapes paths from the Vesta family and showed that typical Vesta fugitives in the inner main asteroid belt at semi-major axis a < 2.3 AU have to have retrograde rotations and physical and thermal parameters that maximize the Yarkovsky force in order to evolve to scattered orbits within 1-2 Gyrs (age of the Vesta collisional family). Therefore large asteroids outside the Vesta family and with a < 2.3 AU and having thermal and rotational properties minimizing the Yarkovsky drift or showing Yarkovsky drift direction towards (4) Vesta are the best candidates for non-Vestoids V-type asteroids and therefore parent bodies of anomalous HED. In this study, we have performed accurate photometric observations and determined sense of rotation for several asteroids testing their links to Vesta and anomalous HED. We have found several potential non-Vestoid candidates. Those objects have to be studied in more detail to fully confirm their link to anomalous HEDs.
References in corpus (24)
- Preliminary Results from NEOWISE: An Enhancement to the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer for Solar System Science
- Solar System Objects Observed in the SDSS Commissioning Data
- Main Belt Asteroids with WISE/NEOWISE I: Preliminary Albedos and Diameters
- Asteroid family ages
- A Spectroscopic Comparison of HED Meteorites and V-type Asteroids in the Inner Main Belt
- Asteroid lightcurves from the Palomar Transient Factory survey: Rotation periods and phase functions from sparse photometry
- The Distribution of Basaltic Asteroids in the Main Belt
- Albedo Properties of Main Belt Asteroids Based on the Infrared All-Sky Survey of the Astronomical Satellite AKARI
- New and updated convex shape models of asteroids based on optical data from a large collaboration network
- NEOWISE Reactivation Mission Year Two: Asteroid Diameters and Albedos
- V-type asteroids in the middle Main Belt
- Detection of Semi-Major Axis Drifts in 54 Near-Earth Asteroids: New Measurements of the Yarkovsky Effect
- Asteroid models from the Lowell Photometric Database
- Constraints on the original ejection velocity fields of asteroid families
- Spectral characterization of V-type asteroids - II. A statistical analysis
- Dynamical evolution of V-type asteroids in the central main belt
- A Spectroscopically Unique Main Belt Asteroid: 10537 (1991 RY16)
- The Strength and Detectability of the YORP Effect in Near-Earth Asteroids: A Statistical Approach
- AVAST Survey 0.4-1.0 μm Spectroscopy of Igneous Asteroids in the Inner and Middle Main Belt
- Binary YORP and Evolution of Binary Asteroids
- 313 new asteroid rotation periods from Palomar Transient Factory observations
- Differentiation signatures in the Flora region
- Selecting asteroids for a targeted spectroscopic survey
- Lightcurve Survey of V-type Asteroids in the Inner Asteroid Belt