Issue |
A&A
Volume 695, March 2025
|
|
---|---|---|
Article Number | A139 | |
Number of page(s) | 13 | |
Section | Planets, planetary systems, and small bodies | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202450027 | |
Published online | 14 March 2025 |
Spins and shapes of 11 near-Earth asteroids observed within the NEOROCKS project
1
Astronomical Institute ASCR,
Fričova 298,
Ondřejov
251 65, Czech Republic
2
Institute of Astronomy, Charles University,
V Holešovičkách 2,
Prague
180 00, Czech Republic
3
Research Centre for Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics, Institute of Physics, Silesian University in Opava,
Bezručovo nám. 13,
Opava
746 01, Czech Republic
4
Ulugh Beg Astronomical Institute,
33 Astronomicheskaya St.,
Tashkent
100052, Uzbekistan
5
Heidelberg University, Department of Physics and Astronomy,
Im Neuenheimer Feld 226,
69120
Heidelberg, Germany
6
National University of Uzbekistan,
4 Universitet St.,
Tashkent
100174, Uzbekistan
7
Modra Observatory, Department of Astronomy, Physics of the Earth, and Meteorology, FMPI UK, Mlynská dolina,
Bratislava
84248, Slovakia
8
Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona,
1629 E University Blvd,
Tucson,
AZ, USA
9
Badlands Observatory,
12 Ash St.,
Quinn,
SD
57775, USA
10
The University of Texas at Austin, Astronomy Department/McDonald Observatory,
1 University Station C1400,
Austin,
TX
78712-0259, USA
11
Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Royal Observatory,
Blackford Hill,
Edinburgh
EH9 3HJ, UK
12
Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço, Departamento de Física, Universidade de Coimbra,
3040-004
Coimbra, Portugal
13
Astronomy Research Center, Research Institute of Basic Sciences, Seoul National University,
1 Gwanak-ro,
Gwanak-gu, Seoul
08826, Korea
★ Corresponding author; fatka@asu.cas.cz
Received:
19
March
2024
Accepted:
23
January
2025
Context. The discovery rate of near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) has steadily increased over the past three decades, yet the physical characterization of these objects has not kept pace.
Aims. In an effort to help address this gap, we combined targeted photometric observations, archival data, and sparse photometric data from the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) survey to extract as much information as possible about NEAs’ rotation rates, spin-axis orientations, and shapes.
Methods. We selected 17 NEAs with a potential for shape reconstruction and applied the light curve inversion method to derive their sidereal rotation periods, spin-axis directions, and convex shape models.
Results. We successfully determined unique spin and shape models for seven NEAs: (5189) 1990 UQ, (6569) Ondaatje, (7025) 1993 QA, (8566) 1996 EN, (86450) 2000 CK33, the Hayabusa2# flyby target (98943) 2001 CC21, and (512245) 2016 AU8. For an additional four asteroids – (66251) 1999GJ2, (137199) 1999KX4, (276786) 2004 KD1, and (495615) 2015 PQ291 – we constrained their sidereal periods, spin-axis orientations, and in some cases, their shapes.
Conclusions. This study highlights the importance of integrating new photometric data with archival dense light curves and sparse observations to improve the physical characterization of NEAs, even when working with suboptimal datasets. We constructed 11 NEA models, contributing to the limited set of a few dozen models derived from space missions, radar observations, and light curve inversions.
Key words: methods: data analysis / methods: observational / minor planets, asteroids: individual: near-Earth asteroids
© The Authors 2025
Open Access article, published by EDP Sciences, under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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