Space missions 1 and ground-based observations 2 have shown that some asteroids are loose collections of rubble rather than solid bodies. The physical behavior of such 'rubble pile' asteroids has been traditionally described using only gravitational and frictional forces within a granular material 3 . Cohesive forces in the form of small van der Waals forces between constituent grains have been recently predicted to be important for small rubble piles (10-kilometer-sized or smaller), and can potentially explain fast rotation rates in the small asteroid population 4-6 . Hitherto, the strongest evidence came from an analysis of the rotational breakup of main belt comet P/2013 R3 (ref. 7), although that was indirect and poorly constrained by present observations. Here we report that the kilometer-sized asteroid (29075) 1950 DA 8 is a rubble pile that is rotating faster than that allowed by gravity and friction. We find that cohesive forces are required to prevent surface mass shedding and structural failure, and that the strength of the forces are comparable to, though somewhat less than, that of lunar regolith.It is possible to infer the existence of cohesive forces within an asteroid by determining if it is a rubble pile with insufficient self-gravity to prevent rotational breakup by centrifugal forces. One of the largest known candidates is near-Earth asteroid 1950 DA (mean diameter of 1.3 km; ref.8), as it has a rotation period of 2.1216 hr that is just beyond the critical spin limit of ~2.2 hr estimated for a cohesionless asteroid 9 . A rubble pile structure and the degree of self-gravity can be determined by a bulk density measurement, which can be acquired through model-tomeasurement comparisons of Yarkovsky orbital drift 10 . This drift arises on a rotating asteroid with non-zero thermal inertia, and is caused by the delayed thermal emission of absorbed sunlight, which applies a small propulsion force to the asteroid's afternoon side. Thermalinfrared observations can constrain the thermal inertia value 11 , and precise astrometric position measurements conducted over several years can constrain the degree of Yarkovsky orbital drift 2 . Recently, the orbital semimajor axis of 1950 DA has been observed to be decreasing at a rate of 44.1 ± 8.5 m yr -1 because of the Yarkovsky effect 12 , which indicates that the asteroid's sense of rotation must be retrograde. Using the Advanced Thermophysical Model 13,14 , in combination with the retrograde radar shape model 8 , archival WISE thermal-infrared data 15 (Extended Data Table 1, and Extended Data Figs 1 and 2), and orbital state 12 , we determine the thermal inertia and bulk density of 1950 DA (Methods). The thermal inertia value is found to be remarkably low at 24 +20 / -14 J m -2 K -1 s -1/2 , which gives a corresponding bulk density of 1.7 ± 0.7 g cm -3 ( Fig. 1 and Extended Data Fig. 3). This bulk density is much lower than the minimum value of 3.5 g cm -3 required to prevent loss of surface material by centrifugal forces (Fig. 2).Spectral observations of 1950...
Thermal inertia is a useful property to characterise a planetary surface since it can be used as a qualitative measure of the regolith grain size. It is expected to vary with heliocentric distance because of its dependence on temperature. However, no previous investigation has conclusively observed a change in thermal inertia for any given planetary body. We have addressed this by using NEOWISE data and the Advanced Thermophysical Model to study the thermophysical properties of the near-Earth asteroids (1036) Ganymed, (1580) Betulia, and (276049) 2002 CE26 as they moved around their highly eccentric orbits. We confirm that the thermal inertia values of Ganymed and 2002 CE26 do vary with heliocentric distance, although the degree of variation observed depends on the spectral emissivity assumed in the thermophysical modelling. We also confirm that the thermal inertia of Betulia did not change for three different observations obtained at the same heliocentric distance. Depending on the spectral emissivity, the variations for Ganymed and 2002 CE26 are potentially more extreme than that implied by theoretical models of heat transfer within asteroidal regoliths, which might be explained by asteroids having thermal properties that also vary with depth. Accounting for this variation reduces a previously observed trend of decreasing asteroid thermal inertia with increasing size, and suggests that the surfaces of small and large asteroids could be much more similar than previously thought. Furthermore, this variation can affect Yarkovsky orbital drift predictions by a few tens of per cent.
In 2018, the near-Earth object (155140) 2005 UD (hereafter UD) experienced a close fly by of the Earth. We present results from an observational campaign involving photometric, spectroscopic, and polarimetric observations carried out across a wide range of phase angles (0.°7–88°). We also analyze archival NEOWISE observations. We report an absolute magnitude of H V = 17.51 ± 0.02 mag and an albedo of p V = 0.10 ± 0.02. UD has been dynamically linked to Phaethon due their similar orbital configurations. Assuming similar surface properties, we derived new estimates for the diameters of Phaethon and UD of D = 5.4 ± 0.5 km and D = 1.3 ± 0.1 km, respectively. Thermophysical modeling of NEOWISE data suggests a surface thermal inertia of and regolith grain size in the range of 0.9–10 mm for UD and grain sizes of 3–30 mm for Phaethon. The light curve of UD displays a symmetric shape with a reduced amplitude of Am(0) = 0.29 mag and increasing at a linear rate of 0.017 mag/° between phase angles of 0° and ∼25°. Little variation in light-curve morphology was observed throughout the apparition. Using light-curve inversion techniques, we obtained a sidereal rotation period P = 5.235 ± 0.005 hr. A search for rotational variation in spectroscopic and polarimetric properties yielded negative results within observational uncertainties of ∼10% μm−1 and ∼16%, respectively. In this work, we present new evidence that Phaethon and UD are similar in composition and surface properties, strengthening the arguments for a genetic relationship between these two objects.
We present observations of the recently discovered comet-like main-belt object P/2010 R2 (La Sagra) obtained by Pan-STARRS 1 and the Faulkes Telescope-North on Haleakala in Hawaii, the University of Hawaii 2.2 m, Gemini-North, and Keck I telescopes on Mauna Kea, the Danish 1.54 m telescope (operated by the MINDSTEp consortium) at La Silla, and the Isaac Newton Telescope on La Palma.
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