Physical Characterization of ~2-meter Diameter Near-Earth Asteroid 2015 TC25: A possible boulder from E-type Asteroid (44) NysaOPEN ACCESS
Vishnu Reddy, Juan A. Sanchez, William F. Bottke, Audrey Thirouin, Edgard G. Rivera-Valentin, Michael S. Kelley, William Ryan, Edward A. Cloutis, Stephen C. Tegler, Eileen V. Ryan, Patrick A. Taylor, James E. Richardson, Nicholas Moskovitz, Lucille Le Corre
The Astronomical Journal, 2016, Volume 152, Number 6
arXiv:1612.00113
“Small near-Earth asteroids (>20 meters) are interesting because they are progenitors for meteorites in our terrestrial collection. Crucial to our understanding of the effectiveness of our atmosphere in filtering low-strength impactors is the physical characteristics of these small near-Earth asteroids (NEAs). In the past, characterization of small NEAs has been a challenge because of the difficulty in detecting them prior to close Earth flyby. In this study we physically characterized the 2-meter diameter near-Earth asteroid 2015 TC25 using ground-based optical, near-infrared and radar assets during a close flyby of the Earth (distance 69,000 miles) in Oct. 2015. Our observations suggest that its surface composition is similar to aubrites, a rare class of high albedo differentiated meteorites. Aubrites make up only 0.14 % of all know meteorites in our terrestrial meteorite collection. 2015 TC25 is also a very fast rotator with a rotation period of 133 seconds. We compared spectral and dynamical properties of 2015 TC25 and found the best candidate source body in the inner main belt to be the 70-km diameter E-type asteroid (44) Nysa. We attribute difference in spectral slope between the two objects to the lack of regolith on the surface of 2015 TC25. Using the albedo of E-type asteroids (50-60%) we refine the diameter of 2015 TC25 to 2-meters making it one of the smallest NEA ever to be characterized. “
