A&A 391, 1123-1132 (2002)
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:20020873

Asteroids observations with the Hubble Space Telescope FGS

I. Observing strategy, and data analysis and modeling process

D. Hestroffer¹, P. Tanga², A. Cellino², F. Guglielmetti², M. Lattanzi², M. Di Martino², V. Zappalಠand J. Berthier<sup>1

1</sup>  IMCCE, UMR CNRS 8028, Observatoire de Paris, 77 Av. Denfert Rochereau, 75014 Paris, France
²  Osservatorio Astronomico di Torino (OATo), Strada Osservatorio 20, 10025 Pino Torinese (TO), Italy

(Received 12 April 2002 / Accepted 28 May 2002)

Abstract
Five main belt asteroids and one Trojan - selected mainly on the basis of their possible binary nature as deduced from light curve morphology - have been observed with the Fine Guidance Sensors (FGS#3 and FGSR#1) of the Hubble Space Telescope ( HST). In this first paper we present the selection and observation strategy, data reduction and analysis. A careful analysis of the precision for derived parameters is also given. The HST/FGS proves to be valuable in determining asteroid sizes, shapes and spin axis orientations, and also to identify nearly-contact binary systems.

Key words: minor planets, asteroids -- methods: observational

Offprint request: D. Hestroffer, hestro@bdl.fr

© ESO 2002

The OpenURL standard is a protocol for transmission of metadata describing the resource that you wish to access. An OpenURL link contains article metadata and directs it to the OpenURL server of your choice. The OpenURL server can provide access to the resource and also offer complementary services (specific search engine, export of references...). The OpenURL link can be generated by different means.

• If your librarian has set up your subscription with an OpenURL resolver, OpenURL links appear automatically on the abstract pages.
• You can define your own OpenURL resolver with your EDPS Account. In this case your choice will be given priority over that of your library.
• You can use an add-on for your browser (Firefox or I.E.) to display OpenURL links on a page (see http://www.openly.com/openurlref/). You should disable this module if you wish to use the OpenURL server that you or your library have defined.