English

Shape and Rotational Motion Models for Tumbling and Monolithic Asteroid 2012 $\mathrm{TC_4}$:High Time Resolution Lightcurve with the Tomo-e Gozen Camera

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics 2019-04-03 v1

Abstract

We present visible and near-infrared observations of a near-Earth object (NEO), 2012 TC4\mathrm{TC_4}. The NEO 2012 TC4\mathrm{TC_4} approached close to the Earth at a distance of about 50,000 km in October 2017. This close approach provided a practical exercise for planetary defense. This apparition was also an appropriate opportunity to investigate 2012 TC4\mathrm{TC_4}, which is a monolithic asteroid \citep{Polishook13}. We conducted the observation campaign of 2012 TC4\mathrm{TC_4} using six small- and medium-sized telescopes. The multiband photometry analysis showed that the taxonomic class of 2012 TC4\mathrm{TC_4} to be an X-type. In particular, we successfully obtained the high time resolution lightcurve of 2012 TC4\mathrm{TC_4} with the Tomo-e Gozen camera, which is the world's first wide-field CMOS camera, mounted on the 1.05 m Schmidt telescope at Kiso Observatory. The shape and rotational motion models of 2012 TC4\mathrm{TC_4} were derived from the lightcurve. When 2012 TC4\mathrm{TC_4} was assumed to be a triaxial ellipsoid, the rotational and precession periods were 8.47 ±\pm 0.01 min and 12.25 ±\pm 0.01 min, respectively, with the long axis mode. This indicates that 2012 TC4\mathrm{TC_4} is a tumbling and monolithic asteroid. The shape models showed that the plausible axial lengths to be 6.2 ×\times 8.0 ×\times 14.9~m or 3.3 ×\times 8.0 ×\times 14.3~m. The flattened and elongated shape indicates that 2012 TC4\mathrm{TC_4} is a fragment produced by a impact event. We also estimated the excitation timescale, which implied that the impact event happened within \sim3 ×\times 105^{5} yr and 2012 TC4\mathrm{TC_4} has a fresh surface.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1903.05687,
  title  = {Shape and Rotational Motion Models for Tumbling and Monolithic Asteroid 2012 $\mathrm{TC_4}$:High Time Resolution Lightcurve with the Tomo-e Gozen Camera},
  author = {Seitaro Urakawa and Ryou Ohsawa and Shigeyuki Sako and Shin-ichiro Okumura and Yuri Sakurai and Jun Takahashi and Kazuyoshi Imamura and Hiroyuki Naito and Fumitake Watanabe and Ryoma Nagayoshi and Yasuhiko Murakami and Ryo Okazaki and Tomohiko Sekiguchi and Masateru Ishiguro and Tatsuhiro Michikami and Makoto Yoshikawa},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1903.05687},
  year   = {2019}
}

Comments

20 pages, 7 figures