Issue |
A&A
Volume 529, May 2011
|
|
---|---|---|
Article Number | A86 | |
Number of page(s) | 4 | |
Section | Planets and planetary systems | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201015402 | |
Published online | 07 April 2011 |
Polarimetric survey of main-belt asteroids⋆
I. Results for fifty seven S-, L-, and K-type objects⋆⋆
1
Complejo Astronómico El Leoncito (CONICET), Av. España 1512 sur, J5402, DSP San Juan, Argentina
e-mail: rgilhutton@casleo.gov.ar
2
Universidad Nacional de San Juan, J. I. de la Roza 590 oeste, 5400 Rivadavia, San Juan, Argentina
Received: 15 July 2010
Accepted: 22 February 2011
Aims. We present the first results of a polarimetric survey of main-belt asteroids at Complejo Astronómico El Leoncito (Casleo), San Juan, Argentina. The aims of this survey are to increase the database of asteroid polarimetry, to estimate diversity in polarimetric properties of asteroids that belong to different taxonomic classes, and to search for objects that exhibit anomalous polarimetric properties, similar to those shown by the asteroid (234) Barbara.
Methods. The data were obtained with the Torino and CASPROF polarimeters at the 2.15 m telescope. The Torino polarimeter is an instrument that allows the simultaneous measurement of polarization in five different bands, and the CASPROF polarimeter is a two-hole aperture polarimeter with rapid modulation.
Results. The survey began in 2003, and up to 2009 data on a sample of more than 170 asteroids were obtained. In this paper the results of 57 S-, L-, and K-type objects are presented, most of them are being polarimetrically observed for the first time. Using these data we find phase-polarization curves and polarimetric parameters for these taxonomic classes. Furthermore, we also find two candidates, (397) Vienna and (458) Hercynia, that could have a phase-polarization curve with a large inversion angle.
Key words: minor planets, asteroids: general / techniques: polarimetric
Based on observations carried out at the Complejo Astronómico El Leoncito, operated under agreement between the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas de la República Argentina and the National Universities of La Plata, Córdoba, and San Juan.
Tables 1 and 2 are only available in electronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/qcat?j/A+A/529/A86
© ESO, 2011
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