J/A+A/569/A3 Rotational properties of TNOs (Thirouin+, 2014)
Rotational properties of the binary and non-binary populations in the
Trans-Neptunian belt.
Thirouin A., Noll K.S., Ortiz J.L., Morales N.
<Astron. Astrophys. 569, A3 (2014)>
=2014A&A...569A...3T 2014A&A...569A...3T
ADC_Keywords: Solar system ; Minor planets
Keywords: solar system - Kuiper Belt: general - techniques: photometric
Abstract:
We present results for the short-term variability of Binary
Trans-Neptunian Objects (BTNOs). We performed CCD photometric
observations using the 3.58m Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG), the
1.5m Sierra Nevada Observatory (OSN) telescope, and the 1.23m Centro
Astronomico Hispano Aleman (CAHA) telescope at Calar Alto
Observatory. We present results based on five years of observations
and report the short-term variability of six BTNOs. Our sample
contains three classical objects: (174567) 2003 MW12, or Varda,
(120347) 2004 SB60, or Salacia, and 2002 VT130; one detached disk
object: (229762) 2007 UK126; and two resonant objects: (341520) 2007
TY430 and (38628) 2000 EB173, or Huya. For each target, possible
rotational periods and/or photometric amplitudes are reported. We also
derived some physical properties from their lightcurves, such as
density, primary and secondary sizes, and albedo. We compiled and
analyzed a vast lightcurve database for Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs)
including centaurs to determine the lightcurve amplitude and spin
frequency distributions for the binary and non-binary populations. The
mean rotational periods, from the Maxwellian fits to the frequency
distributions, are 8.63±0.52h for the entire sample, 8.37±0.58h
for the sample without the binary population, and 10.11±1.19h for
the binary population alone. Because the centaurs are collisionally
more evolved, their rotational periods might not be so primordial. We
computed a mean rotational period, from the Maxwellian fit, of
8.86±0.58h for the sample without the centaur population, and of
8.64±0.67h considering a sample without the binary and the centaur
populations. According to this analysis, regular TNOs spin faster than
binaries, which is compatible with the tidal interaction of the
binaries. Finally, we examined possible formation models for several
systems studied in this work and by our team in previous papers.
Description:
Time-series photometry of all the objects is provided.
We present our photometric results: the name of the object, and for
each image we specify the Julian date (not corrected for light time),
the relative magnitude and the 1-sigma error associated, the filter
used during observational runs, the phase angle, topocentric and
heliocentric distances.
File Summary:
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FileName Lrecl Records Explanations
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ReadMe 80 . This file
objects.dat 55 5 *List of studied objects
table1.dat 80 932 Time-series photometry
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Note on objects.dat: Parameters from Orbits of Minor Planets (Bowell+ 2014),
Cat. B/astorb.
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See also:
B/astorb : Orbits of Minor Planets (Bowell+ 2014)
J/PAZh/30/692 : Occultations of stars by large TNO 2004-2014 (Denissenko 2004)
J/A+A/468/L13 : Photometry of the trans-Neptunian object 2005FY9 (Ortiz+ 2007)
J/AJ/133/26 : Solar phase curves of distant icy bodies (Rabinowitz+, 2007)
J/A+A/508/451 : Light curves of 5 Trans-Neptunian Objects (Perna+, 2009)
J/ApJS/189/336 : HST astrometry of TNOs (Benecchi+, 2010)
J/A+A/522/A93 : Short-term variability of 29 minor planets (Thirouin+, 2010)
Byte-by-byte Description of file: objects.dat
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Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
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1- 6 I6 --- Planet Asteroid number
8- 17 A10 --- Name Name
19- 22 F4.2 mag H Absolute magnitude H parameter
24- 32 F9.6 deg i Inclination
34- 43 F10.8 --- e Eccentricity
45- 55 F11.8 AU a Semimajor axis
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Byte-by-byte Description of file: table1.dat
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Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
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1 A1 --- --- [(]
2- 7 I6 --- Planet Asteroid number
8 A1 --- --- [)]
10- 28 A19 --- Name Name(s) of the object
30- 42 F13.5 d JD Julian Date of the observation (1)
44- 49 F6.3 mag mag Relative magnitude
51- 55 F5.3 mag e_mag Error on mag
57- 61 A5 --- Filter Filter used in the observation (R or Clear)
63- 66 F4.2 deg alpha [0.2/1.4] Phase angle α
68- 73 F6.3 AU Delta [27.6/47.3] Geocentric distance Δ
75- 80 F6.3 AU r [28.5/47.9] Heliocentric distance
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Note (1): not corrected for light time.
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Acknowledgements:
Audrey Thirouin, thirouin(at)iaa.es
(End) Patricia Vannier [CDS] 04-Jul-2014