Comparative Mid-infrared Spectroscopy of Dark, Primitive Asteroids: Does Shared Taxonomic Class Indicate Shared Silicate Composition?OPEN ACCESS 

· by · in , , ,

Oriel A. Humes, Audrey C. Martin, Cristina A. Thomas and Joshua P. Emery

The Planetary Science Journal, Volume 5, Number 5

LINK (OPEN ACCESS)
PDF (OPEN ACCESS)

“Primitive asteroids with low albedos and red slopes in the visible and near-infrared (VNIR) are found in both the main belt and the Jupiter Trojan clouds. In order to determine whether the VNIR spectral similarities of primitive main-belt asteroids and Jupiter Trojans are reflective of a true compositional similarity, we compare the mid-infrared silicate emission features of main-belt and Jupiter Trojan asteroids. Using archival data from the Spitzer Space Telescope’s Infrared Spectrograph and observations from the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy’s FORCAST instrument, we analyze the 5–40μm spectra of 13 primitive main-belt asteroids and compare them to those of Jupiter Trojans in the literature. We find that while many primitive asteroids in the main belt resemble their Trojan counterparts with strong spectral signatures of olivine-rich high-porosity silicate regoliths, we identify (368) Haidea as a spectrally distinctive asteroid that lacks strong evidence of olivine in its mid-IR spectrum. Differences in silicate compositions among D-type asteroids imply a diversity of origins for primitive asteroids.”

Related posts (automatically generated):

  1. Illuminating the dark side of the asteroid population: Visible near-infrared (0.7–2.45 μm) surface mineralogy modeling of D-type asteroids using Shkuratov theory
  2. Spectral evolution of dark asteroid surfaces induced by space weathering over a decadeOPEN ACCESS 
  3. Visible and near-infrared reflectance of hyperfine and Hyperporous particulate surfaces
  4. Dark Primitive Asteroids Account for a Large Share of K/Pg-Scale Impacts on the EarthOPEN ACCESS 
  5. Linear Modeling of Spectra of Fine Particulate Materials: Implications for Compositional Analyses of Primitive AsteroidsOPEN ACCESS 
  6. Spectral variability on primitive asteroids of the Themis and Beagle families: space weathering effects or parent body heterogeneity? (updated: Jan. 21)
  7. Near-infrared Spectroscopy of 3:1 Kirkwood Gap Asteroids II: Probable and Plausible Parent Bodies; Primitive and Differentiated
  8. Tagish Lake is Still the Only Possible Meteorite Sample from D-Type Asteroids
  9. Connecting Asteroids and Meteorites with visible and near-infrared spectroscopyOPEN ACCESS 
  10. Polyaromatic Units Set the Albedo of Dark Extraterrestrial MaterialsOPEN ACCESS 
Tags: , , , , , , , ,