Near-infrared spectroscopy of 133P/Elst-Pizarro     

P. Rousselot  C. Dumas 《Icarus》2011,211(1):553-558

Comet 133P/Elst-Pizarro, known to be a main-belt asteroid with a cometary activity, was observed with the near-infrared integral field spectrograph SINFONI at the 8.2-m Very Large Telescope in J, H, and K bands during its 2007 perihelion passage. The goal of these observations was to attempt detection of water ice absorption bands. We present here the details of the data processing, the results of these observations, and our compositional modeling of the final spectrum. No water ice absorptions were detected within the noise of the spectrum but we show that this spectrum is compatible with a reasonable near-infrared albedo value of 7-10% and a mixture of water ice, black carbon, Tholin and silicates. This interpretation, nevertheless, is not unique.  相似文献   

Results from the Eso Large Program on Transneptunian Objects and Centaurs     

Boehnhardt  Hermann  Barucci  Antonella  Delsanti  Audrey  De Bergh  Catherine  Doressoundiram  Alain  Romon  Jennifer  Dotto  Elisabetta  Tozzi  Gianpaolo  Lazzarin  Monica  Fornasier  Sonia  Peixinho  Nuno  Hainaut  Olivier  Davies  John  Rousselot  Philippe  Barrera  Luis  Birkle  Kurt  Meech  Karen  Ortiz  JoseLuis  Sekiguchi  Tomohiko  Watanabe  Jun-ichi  Thomas  Nick  West  Richard 《Earth, Moon, and Planets》2003,92(1-4):145-156

BVRI photometry of 107 TNOs and Centaurs establishes the range of spectral gradients to be between –5 to 55%/100 nm (with one exception). A cluster of very red Cubewanos is firmly identified in orbits of low inclination and eccentricity beyond 40 AU from the Sun. Further correlations between surface colours and dynamical parameters (inclination and perihelion distance) are suggested for Cubewanos and scattered disk objects, but lack complete confidence for their reality. Plutinos and Centaurs do not show any clear correlation between surface colours and orbital parameters. We present in this paper 12 spectra obtained in the visible region and nine of them for which we obtained also near infrared spectra up to 2.4 microns. A few other objects have been observed, but the data are still under reduction and analysis. The principal reported results obtained are: (i) a wide range of visible slopes; (ii) evidence for surface variations on 2001 PT₁₃; and (iii) possible detection of few percent of water ice (1999 TC_36}, 2000 EB₁₇₃, 1999 DE₉, 2001 PT₁₃, 2000 QC₂₄₃, 1998 SG₃₅).  相似文献   

The remarkable surface homogeneity of the Dawn mission target (1) Ceres     

Benoît Carry  Pierre Vernazza  Christophe Dumas  William J. Merline  Olivier Mousis  Philippe Rousselot  Emmanuël Jehin  Jean Manfroid  Marcello Fulchignoni  Jean-Marc Zucconi 《Icarus》2012,217(1):20-26

Dwarf-planet (1) Ceres is one of the two targets, along with (4) Vesta, that will be studied by the NASA Dawn spacecraft via imaging, visible and near-infrared spectroscopy, and gamma-ray and neutron spectroscopy. While Ceres’ visible and near-infrared disk-integrated spectra have been well characterized, little has been done about quantifying spectral variations over the surface. Any spectral variation would give us insights on the geographical variation of the composition and/or the surface age. The only work so far was that of Rivkin and Volquardsen ([2010], Icarus 206, 327) who reported rotationally-resolved spectroscopic (disk-integrated) observations in the 2.2–4.0 μm range; their observations showed evidence for a relatively uniform surface.Here, we report disk-resolved observations of Ceres with SINFONI (ESO VLT) in the 1.17–1.32 μm and 1.45–2.35 μm wavelength ranges. The observations were made under excellent seeing conditions (0.6″), allowing us to reach a spatial resolution of ～75 km on Ceres’ surface. We do not find any spectral variation above a 3% level, suggesting a homogeneous surface at our spatial resolution. Slight variations (about 2%) of the spectral slope are detected, geographically correlated with the albedo markings reported from the analysis of the HST and Keck disk-resolved images of Ceres (Li et al. [2006], Icarus 182, 143; Carry et al. [2008], Astron. Astrophys. 478, 235). Given the lack of constraints on the surface composition of Ceres, however, we cannot assert the causes of these variations.  相似文献   

Photometric study of Centaur (60558) 2000 EC₉₈ and trans-neptunian object (55637) 2002 UX₂₅ at different phase angles     

P. Rousselot  J.-M. Petit  A. Sergeev 《Icarus》2005,176(2):478-491

We present photometric observations of Centaur (60558) 2000 EC₉₈ and trans-neptunian object (55637) 2002 UX₂₅ at different phase angles and with different filters (mainly R but also V and B for some data). Results for 2000 EC₉₈ are: (i) a rotation period of 26.802±0.042 h if a double-peaked lightcurve is assumed, (ii) a lightcurve amplitude of 0.24±0.06 for the R band, (iii) a phase curve with H=9.03±0.01 and G=−0.39±0.08 (R filter) and H=9.55±0.04 and G=−0.50±0.35 (V filter) or a slope of (R filter) and 0.22±0.06 (V filter), (iv) the color indices B-V=0.76±0.15 and V-R=0.51±0.09 (for α=0.1-0.5°) and 0.55±0.08 (for α=1.4-1.5°). The rotation period is amongst the longest ever measured for Centaurs and TNOs. We also show that our photometry was not contaminated by any cometary activity down to magnitude ?27/arcsec². For 2002 UX₂₅ the results are: (i) a rotation period of 14.382±0.001 h or 16.782±0.003 h (if a double-peaked lightcurve is assumed) (ii) a lightcurve amplitude of 0.21±0.06 for the R band (and the 16.782 h period), (iii) a phase curve with H=3.32±0.01 and G=+0.16±0.18 or a slope of (R filter), (iv) the color indices B-V=1.12±0.26 and V-R=0.61±0.12. The phase curve reveals also a possible very narrow and bright opposition surge. Because such a narrow surge appears only for one point it needs to be confirmed.  相似文献   

The discovery of faint irregular satellites of Uranus     

J.J. Kavelaars  M.J. Holman  T. Grav  D. Milisavljevic  B.J. Gladman  J.-M. Petit  P. Rousselot  O. Mousis  P.D. Nicholson 《Icarus》2004,169(2):474-481

We report the discovery of four new uranian irregular satellites in our deep, m_R∼25.4, optical search around that planet. The orbital properties of these satellites are diverse. There is some grouping of inclinations and one of the satellites appears to be inside the Kozai resonant zone of Uranus. Further, we find that the differential size distribution of satellites is rather shallow compared to objects in the asteroid and Kuiper belts, going as ∼r^−2.4. We also report a strong coupling between semi-major axis and orbital eccentricity. We comment on the apparent paradox between the inclination grouping, shallow size distribution, and orbital correlation as they relate to the likelihood of a collisional origin for the uranian irregulars. The currently observed irregulars appear to be consistent with a disruptive formation process and a collisional origin for Uranus' obliquity.  相似文献   

Polarimetric and Photometric Phase Effects Observed on Transneptunian Object (29981) 1999 TD10     

P. Rousselot  A. C. Levasseur-Regourd  K. Muinonen  J.-M. Petit 《Earth, Moon, and Planets》2005,97(3-4):353-364

The Kuiper-Belt Object (29981) 1999 TD₁₀, classified as a Scattered-Disk Object, has been observed at three different phase angles with the ESO 8.2-m VLT and FORS 1 instrument in polarimetric mode in November and December 2003. These observations have been used to compute the Stokes parameter q, which represents the linear polarization degree. We have also used the previously published photometric observations to improve the R-band phase function. The main conclusions are as follows: (i) a negative linear polarization degree decreasing with phase angle α up to, at least, α=3°, (ii) for α=3°, (iii) a possible color effect between the R and V band, the polarization degree being more negative in R. The R-band polarimetric observations can be explained by the coherent-backscattering mechanism and fitted by a two-component Rayleigh-scatterer model for a spherical small body. The rotation period of 15.382±0.001 h published by Mueller et al. (2004, Icarus 171, 506–515) and Choi et al. (2003, Icarus 165, 101–111) is confirmed. The R-band phase curve provides H=8.35±0.02 and G=−0.25±0.022 parameters with the IAU H–G formalism.Based on observations obtained at the Cerro Paranal observatory of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Chile.  相似文献   

The CFEPS Kuiper Belt Survey: Strategy and presurvey results     

R.L. Jones  B. Gladman  P. Rousselot  J.J. Kavelaars  G. Bernabeu  J.Wm. Parker  M. Holman  A. Doressoundiram  H. Scholl 《Icarus》2006,185(2):508-522

We present the data acquisition strategy and characterization procedures for the Canada-France Ecliptic Plane Survey (CFEPS), a sub-component of the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey. The survey began in early 2003 and as of summer 2005 has covered 430 square degrees of sky within a few degrees of the ecliptic. Moving objects beyond the orbit of Uranus are detected to a magnitude limit of mR=23-24 (depending on the image quality). To track as large a sample as possible and avoid introducing followup bias, we have developed a multi-epoch observing strategy that is spread over several years. We present the evolution of the uncertainties in ephemeris position and orbital elements of a small 10-object sample of objects tracked through these epochs as part of a preliminary presurvey starting a year before the main CFEPS project. We describe the CFEPS survey simulator, to be released in 2006, which allows theoretical models of the Kuiper belt to be compared with the survey discoveries. The simulator utilizes the well-documented pointing history of CFEPS, with characterized detection efficiencies as a function of magnitude and rate of motion on the sky. Using the presurvey objects we illustrate the usage of the simulator in modeling the classical Kuiper belt. The primary purpose of this paper is to allow a user to immediately exploit the CFEPS data set and releases as they become available in the coming months.  相似文献   

Near-infrared sky background fluctuations at mid- and low latitudes     

G. Moreels  J. Clairemidi  M. Faivre  D. Pautet  F. Rubio da Costa  P. Rousselot  J.W. Meriwether  G.A. Lehmacher  E. Vidal  J.L. Chau  G. Monnet 《Experimental Astronomy》2008,22(1-2):87-107

The emission of the upper atmosphere introduces an additional variable component into observations of astronomical objects in the NIR 700–3,000 nm range. The subtraction of this component is not easy because it varies during the night by as much as 100% and it is not homogeneous over the sky. A program aimed at measuring and understanding the main characteristics of the atmospheric NIR emission was undertaken. A 512?×?512 CCD camera equipped with a RG780/2 mm filter is used to obtain images of the sky in a 36°?×?36° field of view. The intensities of a given star and of the nearby region devoid of star in a 439 arcmin² area are monitored during periods of time of several hours. The sky intensity measured in the 754–900 nm bandpass, reduced to zenith and zero airmass is comprised between mag20 and mag18.5 per arcsecond². A diminution by a factor of two during the night is frequently observed. Intensity fluctuations having an amplitude of 15% and periods of 5–40 min are present in the images with a structure of regularly spaced stripes. The fluctuations of the NIR sky background intensity are due to (1) the chemical evolution of the upper atmosphere composition during the night and (2) dynamical processes such as tides with periods of 3–6 h or gravity waves with periods of several tens of minutes. We suggest that a monitoring of the sky background intensity could be set up when quantitative observations of astronomical objects require exposure times longer than ~10 min. The publication is illustrated with several video films accessible on the web site http://www.obs-besancon.fr/nirsky/. Enter username: nirsky and password: skynir.  相似文献