Thermophysical Modeling of 20 Themis Family Asteroids with WISE/NEOWISE Observations
Abstract Themis family is one of the largest and oldest asteroid populations in the main belt. Water ice may widely exist on the parent body (24) Themis. In this work, we employ the Advanced Thermophysical Model as well as midinfrared measurements from NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer to e...
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Published in | The Astronomical journal Vol. 162; no. 2; pp. 40 - 56 |
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Main Authors | , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Madison
The American Astronomical Society
01.08.2021
IOP Publishing |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Abstract
Themis family is one of the largest and oldest asteroid populations in the main belt. Water ice may widely exist on the parent body (24) Themis. In this work, we employ the Advanced Thermophysical Model as well as midinfrared measurements from NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer to explore thermal parameters of 20 Themis family members. Here we show that the average thermal inertia and geometric albedo are 39.5 ± 26.0 J m
−2
s
−1/2
K
−1
and 0.067 ± 0.018, respectively. The family members have a relatively moderate roughness fraction on their surfaces. We find that the relatively low albedos of Themis members are consistent with the typical values of B-type and C-type asteroids. As mentioned, the Themis family bears a very low thermal inertia, which indicates a fine and mature regolith on their surfaces. The resemblance of thermal inertia and geometric albedo of Themis members may reveal their close connection in origin and evolution. In addition, we present the compared results of thermal parameters for several prominent families. |
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Bibliography: | AAS30680 The Solar System, Exoplanets, and Astrobiology |
ISSN: | 0004-6256 1538-3881 1538-3881 |
DOI: | 10.3847/1538-3881/ac01c8 |