A 3-D shape model of the sixth largest of the main belt asteroids, (704) Interamnia, is presented. The model is reproduced from its two stellar occultation observations and six lightcurves between 1969 and 2011. The f...A 3-D shape model of the sixth largest of the main belt asteroids, (704) Interamnia, is presented. The model is reproduced from its two stellar occultation observations and six lightcurves between 1969 and 2011. The first stellar occultation was the occultation of TYC 234500183 on 1996 December 17 observed from 13 sites in the USA. An elliptical cross section of (344.6 ± 9.6 km) × (306.2 ± 9.1 km), for position angle P = 73.4 ± 12.5° was fitted. The lightcurve around the occultation shows that the peak-to-peak amplitude was 0.04 mag. and the occultation phase was just before the minimum. The second stellar occultation was the occultation of HIP 036189 on 2003 March 23 observed from 39 sites in Japan and Hawaii. An elliptical cross section of (349.8 ± 0.9 km) × (303.7 ± 1.7 km), for position angle P = 86.0 ± 1.1° was fitted. A companion of 8.5 mag. of the occulted star was discovered whose separation is 12 ± 2 mas (milli-arcseconds), P = 148 ± 11°. A combined analysis of rotational lightcurves and occultation chords can return more information than can be obtained with either technique alone. From follow-up photometric observations of the asteroid between 2003 and 2011, its rotation period is determined to be 8.728967167 ± 0.00000007 hours, which is accurate enough to fix the rotation phases at other occultation events. The derived north pole is λ2000 = 259 ± 8°, β2000 = -50 ± 5° (retrograde rotation);the lengths of the three principal axes are 2a = 361.8 ± 2.8 km, 2b = 324.4 ± 5.0 km, 2c = 297.3 ± 3.5 km, and the mean diameter is D = 326.8 ± 3.0 km. Supposing the mass of Interamnia as (3.5 ± 0.9) × 10-11 solar masses, the density is then ρ = 3.8 ± 1.0 g·cm-3.展开更多
Research about asteroids has recently attracted more and more attention, especially focusing on their physical structures, such as their spin axis, rotation period and shape. The long distance between observers on Ear...Research about asteroids has recently attracted more and more attention, especially focusing on their physical structures, such as their spin axis, rotation period and shape. The long distance between observers on Earth and asteroids makes it impossible to directly calculate the shape and other parameters of asteroids, with the exception of Near Earth Asteroids and others that have passed by some spacecrafts. Photometric measurements are still generally the main way to obtain research data on asteroids, i.e. the lightcurves recording the brightness and positions of asteroids. Supposing that the shape of the asteroid is a triaxial ellipsoid with a stable spin, a new method is presented in this article to reconstruct the shape models of asteroids from the lightcurves, together with other physical parameters. By applying a special curvature function, the method calculates the brightness integration on a unit sphere and Lebedev quadrature is employed for the discretization. Finally, the method searches for the optimal solution by the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm to minimize the residual of the brightness. By adopting this method, not only can related physical parameters of asteroids be obtained at a reasonable accuracy, but also a simple shape model of an ellipsoid can be generated for reconstructing a more sophisticated shape model.展开更多
文摘A 3-D shape model of the sixth largest of the main belt asteroids, (704) Interamnia, is presented. The model is reproduced from its two stellar occultation observations and six lightcurves between 1969 and 2011. The first stellar occultation was the occultation of TYC 234500183 on 1996 December 17 observed from 13 sites in the USA. An elliptical cross section of (344.6 ± 9.6 km) × (306.2 ± 9.1 km), for position angle P = 73.4 ± 12.5° was fitted. The lightcurve around the occultation shows that the peak-to-peak amplitude was 0.04 mag. and the occultation phase was just before the minimum. The second stellar occultation was the occultation of HIP 036189 on 2003 March 23 observed from 39 sites in Japan and Hawaii. An elliptical cross section of (349.8 ± 0.9 km) × (303.7 ± 1.7 km), for position angle P = 86.0 ± 1.1° was fitted. A companion of 8.5 mag. of the occulted star was discovered whose separation is 12 ± 2 mas (milli-arcseconds), P = 148 ± 11°. A combined analysis of rotational lightcurves and occultation chords can return more information than can be obtained with either technique alone. From follow-up photometric observations of the asteroid between 2003 and 2011, its rotation period is determined to be 8.728967167 ± 0.00000007 hours, which is accurate enough to fix the rotation phases at other occultation events. The derived north pole is λ2000 = 259 ± 8°, β2000 = -50 ± 5° (retrograde rotation);the lengths of the three principal axes are 2a = 361.8 ± 2.8 km, 2b = 324.4 ± 5.0 km, 2c = 297.3 ± 3.5 km, and the mean diameter is D = 326.8 ± 3.0 km. Supposing the mass of Interamnia as (3.5 ± 0.9) × 10-11 solar masses, the density is then ρ = 3.8 ± 1.0 g·cm-3.
基金funded by grant No. 019/2010/A2 from the Science and Technology Development Fund, MSARthe support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 10503013, 11078006 and 10933004)the Minor Planet Foundation of Purple Mountain Observatory
文摘Research about asteroids has recently attracted more and more attention, especially focusing on their physical structures, such as their spin axis, rotation period and shape. The long distance between observers on Earth and asteroids makes it impossible to directly calculate the shape and other parameters of asteroids, with the exception of Near Earth Asteroids and others that have passed by some spacecrafts. Photometric measurements are still generally the main way to obtain research data on asteroids, i.e. the lightcurves recording the brightness and positions of asteroids. Supposing that the shape of the asteroid is a triaxial ellipsoid with a stable spin, a new method is presented in this article to reconstruct the shape models of asteroids from the lightcurves, together with other physical parameters. By applying a special curvature function, the method calculates the brightness integration on a unit sphere and Lebedev quadrature is employed for the discretization. Finally, the method searches for the optimal solution by the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm to minimize the residual of the brightness. By adopting this method, not only can related physical parameters of asteroids be obtained at a reasonable accuracy, but also a simple shape model of an ellipsoid can be generated for reconstructing a more sophisticated shape model.
