Issue |
A&A
Volume 607, November 2017
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Article Number | A103 | |
Number of page(s) | 6 | |
Section | Planets and planetary systems | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201731388 | |
Published online | 21 November 2017 |
Polarimetric survey of main-belt asteroids⋆,⋆⋆
VI. New results from the second epoch of the CASLEO survey
Grupo de Ciencias Planetarias, Departamento de Geofísica y AstronomíaFacultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de San Juan – CONICET, Av. José I. de la Roza 590 (O), J5402DCS Rivadavia, San Juan, Argentina
e-mail: ricardo.gil-hutton@conicet.gov.ar
Received: 16 June 2017
Accepted: 10 October 2017
Aims. We present the 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 and to estimate the diversity in the polarimetric properties of asteroids that belong to different taxonomic classes.
Methods. The data were obtained using the CASPOL polarimeter at the 2.15 m telescope. CASPOL is a polarimeter based on a CCD detector and a Savart plate. The survey began in 1995 and data on a large sample of asteroids were obtained until 2012. A second period began in 2013 using a polarimeter with a more sensitive detector in order to study small asteroids, families, and special taxonomic groups.
Results. We present and analyze the unpublished results for 128 asteroids of different taxonomic types, 55 of them observed for the first time. The observational data allowed us to find probable new cases of Barbarian objects but also two D-type objects, (565) Marbachia and (1481) Tubingia, that seem to have phase-polarization curves with a large inversion angle. The data obtained combined with data from the literature enabled us to find phase-polarization curves for 121 objects of different taxonomic types and to study the relations between several polarimetric and physical parameters. Using an approximation for the phase-polarization curve we found the index of refraction of the surface material and the scatter separation distance for all the objects with known polarimetric parameters. We also found that the inversion angle is a function of the index of refraction of the surface, while the phase angle where the minimum of polarization is produced provides information about the distance between scatter particles or, to some extent, the porosity of the surface.
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 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/607/A103
© ESO, 2017
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