Size and shape of the trans-Neptunian object (470316) 2007 OC10: Comparison with thermal data

Abstract

The shapes of only 12 trans-Neptunian objects have been directly measured, offering crucial insights into their internal structure. These properties are strongly connected to the processes that shaped the early Solar System, and provide important clues about its evolution. The aim of the present work is to characterise the size, shape, geometric albedo, and beaming parameter of the TNO (470316) 2007 OC10 . We compared these values to the effective diameter and geometric albedo obtained from thermal data by the TNOs are Cool survey. We also combined occultation and thermal data to constrain the size of a putative unresolved satellite. We predicted an occultation of the star Gaia DR3 2727866328215869952 by 2007 OC10 on 2022 August 22. Four stations detected the occultation. We implemented an elliptical shape model for the projection of 2007 OC10. Following a Bayesian approach, we obtained the posterior probability density in the model parameter space using a Markov chain Monte Carlo method. The elliptical limb of 2007 OC10 has semi-axes of $215_{-7}^{+10}\times 141_{-23}^{+24}$ km, and thus the projected axis ratio is $b/a=0.58_{-0.16}^{+0.16}$. The area-equivalent diameter is $330_{-55}^{+56}$,km. From our own absolute magnitude value of $H_V=5.40\pm 0.02$, the geometric albedo is $p_V=11.2_{-5.0}^{+2.1}$ %. Combining the occultation results with thermal data, we constrain the beaming parameter to $\eta =1.42_{-0.58}^{+0.75}$. Occultation data reveal that the star is double. The secondary star has a position angle with respect to the primary of $56_{-17}^{+3}$ degrees, has an angular separation of $57_{-11}^{+4}$ mas, and is $1.18_{-0.07}^{+0.07}$ magnitudes fainter than the primary.

17 pages, 10 figures

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