Related papers: NEOMOD: A New Orbital Distribution Model for Near …

We perform a search for dormant comets, asteroidal objects of cometary origin, in the near-Earth asteroid (NEA) population based on dynamical and physical considerations. Our study is based on albedos derived within the ExploreNEOs program…

Near Earth Asteroids (NEAs) and dead comets comprise the vast majority of the population of Near Earth Objects (NEOs) detected to date. Less is known of their physical properties than of the much larger population of main-belt asteroids.…

Centaurs are objects whose orbits are found between those of the giant planets. They are supposed to originate mainly from the TransNeptunian objects, and they are among the sources of NearEarth Objects.TransNeptunian Objects (TNOs) cross…

We have made an extensive search for grouping amongst the near Earth asteroids (NEAs). We used two D- functions and rigorous cluster analysis approach. We have found sev- eral new groups (associations) among the NEAs: the objects moving on…

Asteroids with low orbital perihelion distances experience extreme heating from the Sun that can modify their surfaces and trigger non-typical activity mechanisms. These objects are generally difficult to observe from ground-based…

Previous work has demonstrated orbital stability for 100 Myr of initially near-circular and coplanar small bodies in a region termed the 'Earth-Mars belt' from 1.08 au $< a <$ 1.28 au. Via numerical integration of 3000 particles, we studied…

Asteroids that could collide with the Earth are listed on the publicly available Near-Earth object (NEO) hazard web sites maintained by the US and European space agencies (NASA and ESA). The impact probability distribution of 69 potentially…

Dynamical models of the asteroid delivery from the main belt suggest that the current impact flux of diameter D>10 km asteroids on the Earth is 0.5-1 per Gyr. Studies of the Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA) population find a much higher flux, with…

Near-Earth objects (NEOs) moving in resonant, Earth-like orbits are potentially important. On the positive side, they are the ideal targets for robotic and human low-cost sample return missions and a much cheaper alternative to using the…

The rotational properties of small near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) provide crucial insights into their internal structure and collisional history. However, systematic surveys targeting metre- to decametre-sized bodies are rare, thus leaving…

All airless bodies are subject to the space environment, and spectral differences between asteroids and meteorites suggest many asteroids become weathered on very short (<1My) timescales. The spectra of some asteroids, particularly Q-types,…

It is known that near-Earth objects (NEOs) during their orbital evolution may often undergo close approaches to the Sun. Indeed it is estimated that up to ~70% of them end their orbital evolution colliding with the Sun. Starting from the…

Numerical modeling has long suggested that gravitationally-bound (or so-called rubble-pile) near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) can be destroyed by tidal forces during close and slow encounters with terrestrial planets. However, tidal disruptions…

Using the Wide Field Camera for the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope, we measure the near-infrared colors of near-Earth objects (NEOs) in order to put constraints on their taxonomic classifications. The rapid-response character of our…

In this paper, the minimum orbit intersection distances (MOIDs) of near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) over the next 200 years were computed and analyzed in detail. It was shown that the MOID of a NEA relative to the Earth-Moon barycenter (EMB) is…

We present the results of the first-ever visible spectroscopic survey fully dedicated to the small (absolute magnitude H>20) near-Earth asteroid (NEA) population. Observations have been performed at the New Technology Telescope (NTT) of the…

The focus of this work is the current distribution of asteroids in co-orbital motion with Venus, Earth and Jupiter, under a quasi-coplanar configuration and for a medium-term timescale of the order of 900 years. A co-orbital trajectory is a…

Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs) in the scattered disk with 50 < a < 100 au are thought to cluster near Neptune's n:1 resonances (e.g: 3:1, 4:1, and so on). While these objects spend lengthy periods of time at large heliocentric distances, if…

The impact risk has been sharply curtailed for the largest km-sized Near Earth Objects (NEOs) through a concerted period of observation spanning the last decade. Thus the risk of impact has now migrated to the smaller and more numerous…

Processes such as the solar wind sputtering and micrometeorite impacts can modify optical properties of surfaces of airless bodies. This explains why spectra of the main belt asteroids, exposed to these `space weathering' processes over…