Related papers: Unexpected D-type Interlopers in the Inner Main Be…
A class of asteroids, called large super-fast rotators (large SFRs), have rotation periods shorter than 2 hours and diameters larger than ~ 0.3 km. They pose challenges to the usual interior rubble-pile structure unless a relatively high…
The asteroid belt contains less than a thousandth of Earth's mass and is radially segregated, with S-types dominating the inner belt and C-types the outer belt. It is generally assumed that the belt formed with far more mass and was later…
The Hilda asteroids are primitive bodies in resonance with Jupiter whose origin and physical properties are not well understood. Current models posit that these asteroids formed in the outer Solar System and were scattered along with the…
Dynamical models of Solar System evolution have suggested that P-/D-type volatile-rich asteroids formed in the outer Solar System and may be genetically related to the Jupiter Trojans, the comets and small KBOs. Indeed, their spectral…
Using a fully autonomous spacecraft - Bering - we propose to detect and study sub-km asteroids from an orbit within the asteroid Main Belt. The main purpose of the proposed Bering mission is to detect a statistically significant sample of…
We present thermal observations of 44 Jovian Trojan asteroids with diameters (D) ranging from 5 to 24 km. All objects were observed at a wavelength of 24 microns with the Spitzer Space Telescope. Measurements of the thermal emission and of…
The main asteroid belt (MAB) is known to be primarily composed of objects from two distinct taxonomic classes, generically defined here as S- and C-complex. The former probably originated from the inner solar system (interior to Jupiter's…
V-type asteroids in the inner Main Belt (a < 2.5 AU) and the HED meteorites are thought to be genetically related to one another as collisional fragments from the surface of the large basaltic asteroid 4 Vesta. We investigate this…
The Mars crossing region constitutes a path to deliver asteroids from the Inner Main Belt to the Earth crossing space. While both the Inner Main Belt and the population of Earth crossing asteroids contains a significant fraction of…
Satellites around large asteroids are preferentially found among those with the most rapid rotation and elongated shape. The taxonomic statistics are similarly skewed; in total, 13 asteroids larger than 100 km are known to have satellites,…
We present analysis of the asteroid surface density distribution of main belt asteroids (mean perihelion $\Delta \simeq 2.404$ AU) in five ecliptic latitude fields, $-17 \gtsimeq \beta(\degr) \ltsimeq +15$, derived from deep \textit{Large…
We measure the mid-plane of the main asteroid belt by using the observational data of a nearly complete and unbiased sample of asteroids, and find that it has inclination $\bar{I}=0.93\pm0.04$ degrees and longitude of ascending node…
The moniker rubble pile is typically applied to all solar system bodies with Diameter between 200m and 10km - where in this size range there is an abundance of evidence that nearly every object is bound primarily by self-gravity with…
Hilda asteroids orbit at the outer edge, or just outside of the Main Belt, occupying the 2:3 mean motion resonance with Jupiter. It is known that the group shows a mixed taxonomy that suggests the mixed origin of Hilda members, having…
The Dwarf Planet Ceres revealed the presence of ammonia and other unique properties compared to other asteroids in the main belt which suggests that it was not formed in situ. We model the early dynamical evolution of the outer Solar System…
V-type asteroids are associated with basaltic composition, and are supposed to be fragments of crust of differentiated objects. Most V-type asteroids in the main belt are found in the inner main belt, and are either current members of the…
We report the results of a spectroscopic search for debris disks surrounding 41 nearby solar type stars, including 8 planet-bearing stars, using the {\it Spitzer Space Telescope}. With accurate relative photometry using the Infrared…
We report the results of a spectroscopic search for debris disks surrounding 41 nearby solar type stars, including 8 planet-bearing stars, using the {\it Spitzer Space Telescope}. With accurate relative photometry using the Infrared…
Hilda asteroids, which orbit in a 3:2 resonance with Jupiter, serve as key indicators of dynamical processes in the early solar system. Their spin rates, an important probe of these mechanisms, can constrain their density and collisional…
Hilda asteroids and Jupiter Trojans are two low-albedo (p$_{\rm v}$ ~ 0.07) populations for which the Nice model predicts an origin in the primordial Kuiper Belt region. However, recent surveys by WISE and the Spitzer Space Telescope (SST)…