Related papers: Using the youngest asteroid clusters to constrain …
We provide evidence of consistency between the dynamical evolution of main belt asteroids and their color evolution due to space weathering. The dynamical age of an asteroid's surface \citep{bib.bot05a,bib.nes05} is the time since its last…
Analysis of laboratory experiments simulating space weathering optical effects on atmosphereless planetary bodies reveals that the time needed to alter the spectrum of an ordinary chondrite meteorite to resemble the overall spectral shape…
Asteroid families, traditionally defined as clusters of objects in orbital parameter space, often have distinctive optical colors. We show that the separation of family members from background interlopers can be improved with the aid of…
Evidence is seen for young, fresh surfaces among Near-Earth and Main-Belt asteroids even though space-weathering timescales are shorter than the age of the surfaces. A number of mechanisms have been proposed to refresh asteroid surfaces on…
We searched for young asteroid families -- those with ages t_age < 10 Myr and at least three members -- using the proper element catalog from Nesvorny et al. (2024). Our approach employed the Hierarchical Clustering Method (HCM) in a…
The rotational-fission of a rubble-pile asteroid can result in an "asteroid pair", two un-bound asteroids sharing similar orbits. This mechanism might exposes material that previously had never have been exposed to the weathering conditions…
Context. The study of planet-crossing asteroids is of both practical and fundamental importance. As they are closer than asteroids in the Main Belt, we have access to a smaller size range, and this population frequently impacts planetary…
The main belt, the region between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, is home to more than 1 million asteroids. These asteroids form orbital groups, (i.e., asteroid families formed by collisions) and also spectral groups (taxonomies) with…
We discuss measurements of the properties of about 10,000 asteroids detected in 500 deg2 of sky in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) commissioning data. The moving objects are detected in the magnitude range 14 < r < 21.5, with a baseline…
Space weathering is the generic term used for processes that modify the optical properties of surfaces of atmosphereless rocky bodies under exposure to the space environment. The general agreement about the relevance of the effects of space…
We report a detection of statistically significant color variations for a sample of 7,531 multiply observed asteroids that are listed in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Moving Object Catalog. Using 5-band photometric observations accurate to…
The study of small ($<$300 m) near-Earth objects (NEOs) is important because they are more closely related than larger objects to the precursors of meteorites that fall on Earth. Collisions of these bodies with Earth are also more frequent.…
We studied 93 asteroid pairs. We estimated times elapsed since separation of pair members that are between 7*10^3 and a few 10^6 yr. We derived the rotation periods for all the primaries and a sample of secondaries. We derived the absolute…
Mechanisms involved in the star formation process and in particular the duration of the different phases of the cloud contraction are not yet fully understood. Photometric data alone suggest that objects coexist in the young cluster NGC6530…
Recent dynamical studies have identified pairs of asteroids that reside in nearly identical heliocentric orbits. Possible formation scenarios for these systems include dissociation of binary asteroids, collisional disruption of a single…
Asteroid surfaces are subjected to mechanical weathering processes that result in the development and evolution of regolith. Two proposed mechanisms--impact bombardment and thermal fatigue--have been proposed as viable and dominant…
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey provides colors for more than 100 000 moving objects, among which around 10 000 have albedos determined. Here we combined colors and albedo in order to perform a cluster analysis on the small bodies population,…
Understanding the dynamical evolution of asteroids through the secular Yarkovsky effect requires the determination of many physical properties, including the rotation period. We propose a method aimed at obtaining a robust determination of…
We discuss optical colors of 10,592 asteroids with known orbits selected from a sample of 58,000 moving objects observed by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). This is more than ten times larger sample that includes both orbital parameters…
We present visible spectroscopic and albedo data of the 2.3 Gyr old Themis family and the <10 Myr old Beagle sub-family. The slope and albedo variations between these two families indicate C-complex asteroids become redder and darker in…