313 New Asteroid Rotation Periods From Palomar Transient Factory Observations

Chang, Chan-Kao; Ip, Wing-Huen; Lin, H. C.; Cheng, Yu‐Chi; Ngeow, Chow-Choong; Yang, T. C.; Waszczak, A.; Kulkarni, S. R.; Kulkarni, S. R.; Sesar, Branimir; Laher, Russ R.; Surace, J.; Prince, Thomas A.

doi:10.1088/0004-637x/788/1/17

Cited by 18 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 31 publications

(48 reference statements)

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“…With advances in observational technology, several data sets containing hundreds to thousands of asteroid rotation periods have been acquired through large sky surveys (Masiero et al 2009;Polishook & Brosch 2009;Dermawan et al 2011;Polishook et al 2012;Chang et al 2014aChang et al , 2015. Moreover, numerous asteroid rotation periods, obtained from various time-series-archived data products (see an example of Waszczak et al 2015), and single target observations from the Asteroid Light Curve Database (LCDB; Warner et al 2009), 5 also provide major contributions to this field.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Large Super-Fast Rotator Hunting Using the Intermediate Palomar Transient Factory

Lin

et al. 2016

ApJS

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In order to look for large super-fast rotators, in late 2014 and early 2015, five dedicated surveys covering ∼188deg 2 in the ecliptic plane have been carried out in the R-band, with ∼10 minute cadence using the intermediate Palomar Transient Factory. Among 1029 reliable rotation periods obtained from the surveys, we discovered 1 new large super-fast rotator, (40511) 1999 RE88, and 18 other candidates. (40511) 1999 RE88 is an S-type inner main-belt asteroid with a diameter of D=1.9±0.3 km, a rotation period of P=1.96±0.01 hr, and a light curve amplitude of Δm∼1.0 mag. To maintain such fast rotation, an internal cohesive strength of ∼780 Pa is required. Combining all known large super-fast rotators, their cohesive strengths all fall in the range of 100-1000 Pa of lunar regolith. However, the number of large super-fast rotators seems to be far less than the whole asteroid population. This might indicate a peculiar asteroid group for them. Although the detection efficiency for a long rotation period is greatly reduced due to our two-day observation time span, the spin-rate distributions of this work show consistent results with Chang et al. (2015), after considering the possible observational bias in our surveys. It shows a number decrease with an increase of spin rate for asteroids with a diameter of 3D15 km, and a number drop at a spin rate of f=5 rev day −1 for asteroids with D3 km.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Large Super-Fast Rotator Hunting Using the Intermediate Palomar Transient Factory

Lin

et al. 2016

ApJS

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“…Until early in 2015, we carried out eight campaigns, including (1) three sets of observations of 12 fields at 20-min cadence in four adjacent nights, in 15-18 February 2013, 6-9 January 2014, and 20-23 February 2014(Chang et al 2014a, b, 2015; and (2) four sets of observations of 6 fields at 10-min cadence in two/three adjacent nights, in 29-31 October 2014, 10-13 November 2014, 18-19 January 2015, 20-21 February 2015, and 25-26 February 2015(Chang et al 2016). The total sky coverage was ∼450 deg 2 .…”

Section: Data Surveymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The total sky coverage was ∼450 deg 2 . More details about each campaign are available in the original published papers, please see (Chang et al 2014a(Chang et al , b, 2015(Chang et al , 2016.…”

Section: Data Surveymentioning

confidence: 99%

Asteroid spin-rate studies using large sky-field surveys

Lin

et al. 2017

Geosci. Lett.

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Eight campaigns to survey asteroid rotation periods have been carried out using the intermediate Palomar Transient Factory in the past 3 years. 2780 reliable rotation periods were obtained, from which we identified two new superfast rotators (SFRs), (335433) 2005 UW163 and (40511) 1999 RE88, and 23 candidate SFRs. Along with other three known super-fast rotators, there are five known SFRs so far. Contrary to the case of rubble-pile asteroids (i.e., bounded aggregations by gravity only), an internal cohesion, ranging from 100 to 1000 Pa, is required to prevent these five SFRs from flying apart because of their super-fast rotations. This cohesion range is comparable with that of lunar regolith. However, some candidates of several kilometers in size require unusually high cohesion (i.e., a few thousands of Pa). Therefore, the confirmation of these kilometer-sized candidates can provide important information about asteroid interior structure. From the rotation periods we collected, we also found that the spin-rate limit of C-type asteroids, which has a lower bulk density, is lower than for S-type asteroids. This result is in agreement with the general picture of rubble-pile asteroids (i.e., lower bulk density, lower spin-rate limit). Moreover, the spin-rate distributions of asteroids of 3 < D < 15 km in size show a steady decrease along frequency for f > 5 rev/day, regardless of the location in the main belt. The YORP effect is indicated to be less efficient in altering asteroid spin rates from our results when compared with the flat distribution found by Pravec et al. (Icarus 197:497-504, 2008(Icarus 197:497-504, . doi:10.1016(Icarus 197:497-504, /j.icarus.2008. We also found a significant number drop at f = 5 rev/day in the spin-rate distributions of asteroids of D < 3 km.

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“…Table 1 shows that observations with a 1-sigma precision per point of a few percent, i.e., ∼0.03 mag (yielding light curves with S/N ∼10 and corresponding to the cases discussed by Warner and Harris, 2011), could be obtained with long blocks of time on 2 m-class telescopes. Wide-field surveys for transients are already providing periods for (mostly Main Belt) asteroids this way (e.g., Chang et al, 2014).…”

Section: Requirements For Light Curvesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The need for speed in Near-Earth Asteroid characterization

Galache

Beeson

McLeod

et al. 2015

Planetary and Space Science

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We have used Minor Planet Center (MPC) data and tools to explore the discovery circumstances and properties of the currently known population of over 10,000 NEAs, and to quantify the challenges for follow-up from ground-based optical telescopes. The increasing rate of discovery has grown to ∼1,000/year as surveys have become more sensitive, by 1 mag every ∼7.5 years. However, discoveries of large (H ≤ 22) NEAs have remained stable at ∼365/year over the past decade, at which rate the 2005 Congressional mandate to find 90% of 140 m NEAs will not be met before 2030 (at least a decade late). Meanwhile, characterization is falling farther behind: Fewer than 10% of NEAs are well characterized in terms of size, rotation periods, and spectral composition, and at the current rates of follow-up it will take about a century to determine them even for the known population. Over 60% of NEAs have an orbital uncertainty parameter, U ≥ 4, making reacquisition more than a year following discovery difficult; for H > 22 this fraction is over 90%. We argue that rapid follow-up will be essential to characterize newly-discovered NEAs. Most new NEAs are found within 0.5 mag of their peak brightness and fade quickly, typically by 0.5/3.5/5 mag after 1/4/6 weeks. About 80% have synodic periods of <3 years that would bring them close to Earth several times per decade. However follow-up observations on subsequent apparitions will be difficult or impossible for the bulk of new discoveries, as these will be smaller (H > 22) NEAs that tend to return 100× fainter. We show that for characterization to keep pace with discovery would require: Quick (within days) visible spectroscopy with a dedicated ≥2 m telescope; long-arc (months) astrometry, to be used also for phase curves, with a ≥4 m telescope; and fast-cadence (

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313 New Asteroid Rotation Periods From Palomar Transient Factory Observations

Cited by 18 publications

References 31 publications

Large Super-Fast Rotator Hunting Using the Intermediate Palomar Transient Factory

Large Super-Fast Rotator Hunting Using the Intermediate Palomar Transient Factory

Asteroid spin-rate studies using large sky-field surveys

The need for speed in Near-Earth Asteroid characterization

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