J/AJ/112/2319 Asteroid masses (Hilton+ 1996)
Prospects for determining asteroid masses
Hilton J.L., Seidelmann P.K., Middour J.
<Astron. J. 112, 2319 (1996)>
=1996AJ....112.2319H 1996AJ....112.2319H
ADC_Keywords: Minor planets
Abstract:
The orbits of 4583 main belt asteroids are integrated orbits for 57
years and searched for asteroid-asteroid encounters from which it may
be possible to determine the masses of 23 of the largest asteroids
(diameter≥200km) and 11 smaller asteroids. The search is conducted
using a scattering formula which serves as a useful filter for
identifying encounters that can lead to a mass determination. A total
of 460 such encounters were found. The ten most useful of these
encounters are examined in detail. The results show that, to make a
reliable mass determination, the mean distance of the perturbed
asteroid must be known to within a few times 10-8AU. An observing
program targeting the asteroids listed here would have a substantial
impact on our knowledge of asteroid masses and densities.
File Summary:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FileName Lrecl Records Explanations
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ReadMe 80 . This file
table2 69 450 Significant encounters involving large asteroids
table2.tex 96 491 AASTeX version of table2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Byte-by-byte Description of file: table2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1- 10 A10 "DD/MM/YYYY" Date Date of least separation
13- 26 A14 --- Larger Name of larger asteroid
29 A1 --- LType *Tholen et al. (1989) type of Larger
32- 51 A20 --- Smaller Name of smaller asteroid
53 A1 --- SType *Tholen et al. (1989) type of Smaller
56- 61 F6.4 AU Dist Distance between on Date at 0 hr. UT
63- 66 I4 d Time Number of days distance less than 0.05 AU
68- 69 I2 --- Qual *Quality factor, from 1 to 5
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note on LType, SType:
First letter of the classification from Tholen, D. J. 1989, in
Asteroids II, edited by R. P. Binzel, T. Gehrels, & M. S. Matthews,
(University of Arizona Press, Tucson) p. 1139.
Note on Qual:
The quality factor is an estimate of the likelihood of producing a
useful mass from the encounter. The quality factor runs from 1
(low probability of significant deflection) to 5 (high probability)
and is computed as the logarithm of the computed deflection angle in
arc seconds, rounded to the nearest integer.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Origin: AAS CD-ROM series, Volume 7, 1996 Lee Brotzman [ADS] 05-Nov-1996
(End) [CDS] 31-Jan-1997