Invited Review:

Physical Properties of Small Bodies

from Atens to TNOs

Clark R. Chapman
Southwest Research Inst.
Boulder, Colorado, USA

Asteroids Comets Meteors 2005

Buzios, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,
9 a.m., Monday, 8 August 2005
Gary Emerson
Classes of Small Bodies
By Orbital Class
Inner-Earth Objects (IEOs or Apoheles)
NEAs (Atens, Apollos, Amors)
Main-Belt Asteroids (incl. Hungarias,
Cybeles, Hildas, etc.)
Trojans (of Mars, Jupiter, Neptune)
Centaurs, Scattered-Disk Objects
KBOs (Plutinos, Cubewanos)
Oort Cloud (inner)
Comets (JFCs, longer period comets)
Planetary satellites (irregular, regular)
By Size
IDPs, Meteoroids, Meteorites
Small bodies ~10 m to 1000 km diam.
Pluto, 2003 UB313, other large TNOs
 Kinds of Physical Properties:
Observables and How Well?
What is Learned Types of Observations
composition, regolith spectral reflectance & emission (UV radio)
spin, shape, volatiles temporal variations (lightcurves, outbursts)
mass (density) satellite orbits, perturbations on other bodies
structure, geology imaging
Earth-based (optical/IR AO, radar)
Fly-by/orbital/lander spacecraft
cosmochemistry,
geophysics in situ measurements/sample return [future]
Degrees of Knowledge of Properties
Minimal info/most objects rough size (no albedo), vis./IR colors
spin period, albedo, spectral type, oblong/sph.
detailed shape, major minerals/ices, spots
detailed lab data on samples; parent unknown
large-scale geology, spatial compos., mass
Maximum info/few bodies Detailed obs./measurement by orbiter/lander
 Colors of Centaurs, KBOs, SDOs
Hainaut & Delsanti database
Delsanti et al 2004
B-R
Bi-modal colors
Hainaut & Delsanti database
especially Centaurs
esp. not Cubewanos
Weak correlations
with orbital elements,
dynamical groups
Comets do not match
colors of sources
(implies processing)
Doressoundiram et al 2005

e i

aq a
 Main-Belt Asteroid Colors:
Thenand Now
Chapman (1971)
Hapke (1971)
Asteroid data 35 years ago
like TNO data today
Disputed clusters partly OK

Lessons Learned
Trends with a,e,i convincing
only after debiasing (~1975)
Matching colors/reflectance
spectra to mineralogy only
fair (space weathering, etc.)
Data from Gehrels (1970)
Burbine et al (2001) Today: abundant statistics,
Ivezic et al (2002)
hi-res spectra, good compos.
Colors for tens of thousands
Reflectance spectra: 1000s
Good correspondence of
taxonomy with meteorites
Relationship of NEAs to
main-belt asteroids clear
Families as catastrophic
collision products of (usually)
homogeneous parent bodies
 NEA Colors
(Binzel et al. 2004)

S/Q type colors

Space-weathered (like M.B.) >5 km
Range from ord. chond. M.B. <2 km
Spread of fresh to matured surfaces
Implies there may be small M.B. Qs

NEA colors vs. M.B.

Qs are NEAs only
More extremes
D-types (upper-rt)
10-18% of NEOs
could be extinct
comets
Diversity like M.B.
Outer M.B. under-
represented a bit
(beyond low
albedo bias)
 Main Belt
Size Distributions Tedesco et al. 2005

NEAs less wavy than large Main Belt ast.

TNOs have shallow slope at <20 km diam.
Comets truncated 0.6-4 km (Meech et al. 2004)

Separate SDs for different families/groups

TNOs
Bernstein et al. 2004

NEAs
NASA SDT 2003
 Detailed Earth-based Studies
of Individual Objects (examples)
5145 Pholus 4 Vesta 4179 Toutatis

Cruikshank et al. 1998

The period of rotation, Vernazza et al. 2005

Kryszczynska et al. 1999
shape, density, and
homogeneous surface
color of the Centaur
5145 Pholus
S.C. Tegler et al. (2005) HST

Bogard & Garrison 2003

Polarization
Mukai et al. 1997

Hudson et al. 2003

Brown et al. 2000

 Shapes of Comet Gaspra

Nuclei & Asteroids

Kleopatra Tempel 1 Wild 2

Mathilde
 Geophysical Properties
Spins, shapes, satellites, masses, densities, strengths, interior structures
Most remote-sensing of surfaces reveals little about interior properties
Rapid spins = monolithic structure; do slow spins imply rubble piles?
Impact experiments, numerical modelling, scaling analysis
NEAR laser altimetry probes interior of Eros
NEAR Laser
Altimeter:
Eros

Neumann & Barnouin-Jha 2005

Holsapple 2005 Korycansky & Asphaug 2005

 Spacecraft: Orbiters, Landers,
and (soon) Sample Returns
Many fly-bys of small bodies
NEAR XRS data suggest Eros
Significant reconnaissance composition ~ ordinary chondrites

Surprises: no 2 bodies same

NEAR Shoemaker orbital
mission to Eros (& landed!)
Detailed remote-sensing
Composition: ord. chondrite
Impact, landers, sample ret. Lim et al. 2005

Deep Impact experiment

Contact with Itokawa soon
Awaiting sample returns by
Stardust & Hayabusa
Must extrapolate physical
properties measured for
few visited small bodies to
vast, heterogeneous
population
 Unexpected Small-
Scale Geology of Eros
Flat ponds and beaches
Small craters absent; dominant boulders
Itokawa (1) [Saito et al. 2006]
Itokawa (2) [Saito et al. 2006]
 Surface Geology of Tempel 1

Preliminary answers at 11 am today!

Flat, smooth areas; craters; ridges;

bright spots
What processes are at work? Over
what duration of time?
 Dynamics: Relationships to
Physical Properties
Dynamical processes cause physical properties
Spins and axis orientations due to Yarkovsky Effect
Tidal interactions with planets/sun cause distortions and
disruptions/disintegrations
Collisions and catastrophic disruptions create families,
rubble pile structures, satellites (initial spins, sizes)
Physical properties elucidate dynamics
Colors help identify dynamical families
Yarkovsky/YORP effects depend on albedo, shape,
thermal inertia, spin, density, etc.
Dynamical analysis can determine physical properties
Mass (hence density)
Spins (very rapid spins indicate monolith, not rubble pile)
Non-gravitational forces imply features of comet nucleus
Dynamical analysis helps us study physical processes
Specific ages for families specify rates for processes like
space-weathering
How perihelia evolve and facilitate volatilization
 NEO Impact Hazard:
99942 Apophis (2004 MN4)

In astronomy, only solar

flares and impacts have
major practical effects
1:8000 chance that 320m
asteroid impacts 4/13/36
(~ South Asia tsunami)
Physical properties affect:
Whether it hits keyhole
How Yarkovsky affects it
How we could attach to it,
couple energy to divert it
How it responds to forces
How it responds to tidal
forces during 2029 fly-by
In the extremely unlikely event
that it will hit, ground-zero will be Consequences of impact
somewhere on the red line
 Themes and Issues

How much are we astronomers fooled by the

space-weathered, impacted optical surfaces?
Can we really comprehend how processes work
at near-zero gravity?
Really what are the densities, porosities,
granular structures, strengths?
Are these splitting/vanishing comets dust bunnies?
Are M-types metallic cores? (many evidently arent)
Regolith-free bare rocks vs. talcum powder
Biased view from what penetrates our atmosphere
What are we missing?
2003 UB313: we werent looking for high-inclinations
Hypotheticals: vulcanoids, Lou A. Frank LAFOs
Interstellar small bodies?
Asteroid belts/Oort clouds around other stars
 Asteroids/ Comets:
Evolving Perspectives
Traditional View
ASTEROIDS COMETS
Rocky, metallic, no active Icy, under-dense, no active
geology, cratered, geology, pristineuntil they
collisional fragments, some come close to the Sun, become
differentiated by heating very active, disintegrate

Emerging Continuum
ASTEROIDS COMETS
Under-dense, rubble piles, Active, fluffy, evolved
many volatile-rich (except bodies with complex
at surfaces), some non- geology (impact & non-
impact geology, many impact), easily split;
satellites; NEAs tidally precursor KBOs have
evolved satellites, interior oceans
Main-belt Comets (1)
Main-belt Comets (2)