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We report observations of the Jupiter Trojan asteroid (3548) Eurybates and its satellite Queta with the Hubble Space Telescope and use these observations to perform an orbital fit to the system. Queta orbits Eurybates with a semimajor axis of 2350 ± 11 km at a period of 82.46 ± 0.06 days and an eccentricity of 0.125 ± 0.009. From this orbit we derive a mass of Eurybates of 1.51 ± 0.03 × 1017 kg, corresponding to an estimated density of 1.1 ± 0.3 g cm−3, broadly consistent with densities measured for other Trojans, C-type asteroids in the outer main asteroid belt, and small icy objects from the Kuiper Belt. Eurybates is the parent body of the only major collisional family among the Jupiter Trojans; its low density suggests that it is a typical member of the Trojan population. Detailed study of this system in 2027 with the Lucy spacecraft flyby should allow significant insight into collisional processes among what appear to be the icy bodies of the Trojan belt.

Spectral observations of asteroid family members provide valuable information regarding parent body interiors, the origin and source regions of near-Earth asteroids, and the link between meteorites and their parent bodies. Asteroids of the Hungaria family represent some of the closest samples to the Earth from a collisional family (∼1.94 AU), permitting observations of smaller family fragments than accessible for Main Belt families. We have carried out a ground-based observational campaign entitled Hungaria Asteroid Region Telescopic Spectral Survey (HARTSS) to record reflectance spectra of these preserved samples from the inner-most regions of the primordial asteroid belt. During HARTSS phase one (Lucas et al. (2017). Icarus 291, 268–287) we found that ∼80% of the background population is comprised of stony S-complex asteroids that exhibit considerable spectral and mineralogical diversity. In HARTSS phase two, we turn our attention to family members to determine if the Hungaria collisional family is compositionally homogeneous or heterogeneous. We use taxonomic classification, geometric albedo (pv) estimates, and near-infrared (NIR) spectral properties to infer the composition of the family. During phase two of HARTSS we acquired NIR spectra of 50 new Hungarias (19 family; 31 background) with the SpeX spectrograph at NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) and with the NICS spectrograph at the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG). We analyzed X-type spectra for NIR color indices (0.85-J; J-K), and a subtle ∼0.9 µm absorption feature that may be attributed to Fe-poor orthopyroxene ± the sulfide mineral oldhamite. Surviving fragments of an asteroid collisional family typically exhibit similar taxonomies, albedos, and spectral properties. Spectral analysis of Hungaria family X-types and independently calculated WISE albedos for family members (average pv= 0.403; n = 192) is consistent with this scenario. Furthermore, about one-fourth of the background population exhibit similar spectral properties and albedos to family X-types. Spectral observations of 92 Hungaria region asteroids acquired during both phases of HARTSS uncover a compositionally-heterogeneous background population—including two rare olivine-dominated A-types and one apparent D-type interloper—and spectral homogeneity down to ∼2 km for collisional family members. Taxonomy, albedos, and spectral properties indicate that the Hungaria family progenitor was an igneous body that formed under reduced conditions, and was likely consistent in composition with the enstatite achondrite (i.e., aubrite) meteorite group.

The Lucy mission, which is part of NASA's Discovery Program, is the first reconnaissance of the Jupiter Trojans, objects that hold vital clues to deciphering the history of the Solar System. Due to an unusual and fortuitous orbital configuration, Lucy will perform a comprehensive investigation that visits seven of these primitive bodies, covering both the $\mathbf{L}_{4}$ and $\mathbf{L}_{5}$ swarms and all the known taxonomic types. In particular, Lucy will perform flybys of 3548 Eurybates and its satellite Queta ( $\mathbf{L}_{4}$ , C-type), 15094 Polymele ( $\mathbf{L}_{4}$ , P-type), 11351 Leucus ( $\mathbf{L}_{4}$ , D-type), 21900 Orus ( $\mathbf{L}_{4}$ , D-type), and the 617 Patroclus-Menoetius binary ( $\mathbf{L}_{5}$ , P-types). Eurybates and the binary are of particular interest. Eurybates is the largest member of the only major disruptive collisional family in the Trojan swarms. The Patroclus-Menoetius binary, which consists of two roughly equal mass objects in a circular mutual orbit, is likely a leftover from the first generation of planetesimals in the Solar System.

Context: Despite the observed signs of large impacts on the surface of Ceres, there is no confirmed collisional family associated with this dwarf planet. After a dynamical and photometric study, a sample of 156 asteroids was proposed as candidate members of a Ceres collisional family. Aims: Our main objective is to study the connection between Ceres and a total of 14 observed asteroids among the candidate's sample to explore their genetic relationships with Ceres. Methods: We obtained visible spectra of these 14 asteroids using the OSIRIS spectrograph at the 10.4 m Gran Telescopio Canarias(GTC). We computed spectral slopes in two different wavelength ranges, from 0.49 to 0.80{\mu}m and from 0.80 to 0.92{\mu}m, to compare the values obtained with those on Ceres' surface previously computed using the Visible and Infrared Spectrometer (VIR) instrument onboard the NASA Dawn spacecraft. We also calculated the spectral slopes in the same range for ground-based observations of Cerescollected from the literature. Results: We present the visible spectra and the taxonomy of 14 observed asteroids. We found that only two of the asteroids are spectrally compatible with Ceres' surface. Further analysis of those two asteroids indicates that they are spectrally young and thus less likely to be members of the Ceres family. Conclusions: All in all, our results indicate that most of the 14 observed asteroids are not likely to belong to a Ceres collisional family. Despite two of them being spectrally compatible with the young surface of Ceres, further evaluation is needed to confirm or reject their origin from Ceres., Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures. Accepted in Astronomy and Astrophysics

We explore the hypothesis that the Eureka family of sub-km asteroids in the L5 region of Mars could have formed in a collision. We estimate the size distribution index from available information on family members; model the orbital dispersion of collisional fragments; and carry out a formal calculation of the collisional lifetime as a function of size. We find that, as initially conjectured by Rivkin et al (2003), the collisional lifetime of objects the size of (5261) Eureka is at least a few Gyr, significantly longer than for similar-sized Main Belt asteroids. In contrast, the observed degree of orbital compactness is inconsistent with all but the least energetic family-forming collisions. Therefore, the family asteroids may be ejecta from a cratering event sometime in the past ~1 Gyr if the orbits are gradually dispersed by gravitational diffusion and the Yarkovsky effect (Cuk et al, 2015). The comparable sizes of the largest family members require either negligible target strength or a particular impact geometry under this scenario (Durda et al, 2007; Benavidez et al, 2012). Alternatively, the family may have formed by a series of YORP-induced fission events (Pravec.et.al, 2010). The shallow size distribution of the family is similar to that of small MBAs (Gladman et al, 2009) interpreted as due to the dominance of this mechanism for Eureka-family-sized asteroids (Jacobson et al, 2014). However, our population index estimate is likely a lower limit due to the small available number of family asteroids and observational incompleteness. Future searches for fainter family members, further observational characterisation of the known Trojans' physical properties as well as orbital and rotational evolution modelling will help distinguish between different formation models., 3 Tables, 13 Figures, Accepted for publication in Icarus

The goal of this chapter is to review hypotheses for the origin of the Pluto system in light of observational constraints that have been considerably refined over the 85-year interval between the discovery of Pluto and its exploration by spacecraft. We focus on the giant impact hypothesis currently understood as the likeliest origin for the Pluto-Charon binary, and devote particular attention to new models of planet formation and migration in the outer solar system. We discuss the origins conundrum posed by the system's four small moons. We also elaborate on the implications of these scenarios for the dynamical environment of the early transneptunian disk, the likelihood of finding a Pluto collisional family, and the origin of other binary systems in the Kuiper belt. Finally, we highlight outstanding open issues regarding the origins of the Pluto system and suggest areas of future progress.

We present near-infrared spectroscopy of the sporadically active asteroid (6478) Gault collected on the 3 m NASA/Infrared Telescope Facility observatory in late 2019 March/early April. Long-exposure imaging with the 0.5 m NEEMO T05 telescope and previously published data simultaneously monitored the asteroid activity, providing context for our measurements. We confirm Gault is a silicate-rich (Q- or S-type) object likely linked to the (25) Phocaea collisional family. The asteroid exhibits substantial spectral variability over the 0.75-2.45 $\mu$m wavelength range, from unusual blue (s'=-13.5+/-1.1% $\mu$m-1 to typical red (s'=+9.1+/-1.2% $\mu$m-1) spectral slope, that does not seem to correlate with activity. Spectral comparisons with samples of ordinary chondrite meteorites suggest that the blue color relates to the partial loss of the asteroid dust regolith, exposing a fresh, dust-free material at its surface. The existence of asteroids rotating close to rotational break-up limit and having similar spectral properties as Gault further supports this interpretation. Future spectroscopic observations of Gault, when the tails dissipate, will help further testing of our proposed hypothesis., Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in ApJL

Context. A group of trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) are dynamically related to the dwarf planet 136108 Haumea. Ten of them show strong indications of water ice on their surfaces, are assumed to have resulted from a collision, and are accepted as the only known TNO collisional family. Nineteen other dynamically similar objects lack water ice absorptions and are hypothesized to be dynamical interlopers. Aims. We have made observations to determine sizes and geometric albedos of six of the accepted Haumea family members and one dynamical interloper. Ten other dynamical interlopers have been measured by previous works. We compare the individual and statistical properties of the family members and interlopers, examining the size and albedo distributions of both groups. We also examine implications for the total mass of the family and their ejection velocities. Methods. We use far-infrared space-based telescopes to observe the target TNOs near their thermal peak and combine these data with optical magnitudes to derive sizes and albedos using radiometric techniques. Using measured and inferred sizes together with ejection velocities, we determine the power-law slope of ejection velocity as a function of effective diameter. Results. The detected Haumea family members have a diversity of geometric albedos 0.3-0.8, which are higher than geometric albedos of dynamically similar objects without water ice. The median geometric albedo for accepted family members is pV = 0.48-0.18 +0.28, compared to 0.08-0.05 +0.07 for the dynamical interlopers. In the size range D = 175-300 km, the slope of the cumulative size distribution is q = 3.2-0.4 +0.7 for accepted family members, steeper than the q = 2.0 ± 0.6 slope for the dynamical interlopers with D < 500 km. The total mass of Haumea's moons and family members is 2.4% of Haumea's mass. The ejection velocities required to emplace them on their current orbits show a dependence on diameter, with a power-law slope of 0.21-0.50. © ESO 2018., Part of this work was supported by the German DLR project number 50 OR 1108. T.M., C.K., P.S., and R.D. acknowledge that the research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme, under Grant Agreement no 687378. A.P. acknowledges the grant LP2012-31 of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. N.P. acknowledges funding by the Portuguese FCT - Foundation for Science and Technology (ref: SFRH/BGCT/113686/2015). CITEUC is funded by Portuguese National Funds through FCT - Foundation for Science and Technology (project: UID/Multi/00611/2013) and FEDER - European Regional Development Fund through COMPETE 2020 - Operational Programme Competitiveness and Internationalisation (project: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006922). C.K. has been supported by the K-125015 and GINOP-2.3.2-15-2016-00003 grants of the National Research, Development and Innovation Office (NKFIH, Hungary).

Asteroid (7) Iris is an ideal target for disk-resolved imaging owing to its brightness (V$\sim$7-8) and large angular size of 0.33 arcsec during its apparitions. Iris is believed to belong to the category of large unfragmented asteroids that avoided internal differentiation, implying that its current shape and topography may record the first few 100 Myr of the solar system's collisional evolution. We recovered information about the shape and surface topography of Iris from disk-resolved VLT/SPHERE/ZIMPOL images acquired in the frame of our ESO large program. We used the All-Data Asteroid Modeling (ADAM) shape reconstruction algorithm to model the 3D shape of Iris, using optical disk-integrated data and disk-resolved images from SPHERE as inputs. We analyzed the SPHERE images to infer the asteroid's global shape and the morphology of its main craters. We present the volume-equivalent diameter D$_{{\rm eq}}$=214$\pm$5 km, and bulk density $\rho$=2.7$\pm$0.3 g cm$^{-3}$ of Iris. Its shape appears to be consistent with that of an oblate spheroid with a large equatorial excavation. We identified eight putative surface features 20--40 km in diameter detected at several epochs, which we interpret as impact craters. Craters on Iris have depth-to-diameter ratios that are similar to those of analogous 10 km craters on Vesta. The bulk density of Iris is consistent with that of its meteoritic analog, namely LL ordinary chondrites. Considering the absence of a collisional family related to Iris and the number of large craters on its surface, we suggest that its equatorial depression may be the remnant of an ancient (at least 3 Gyr) impact. Iris's shape further opens the possibility that large planetesimals formed as almost perfect oblate spheroids. Finally, we attribute the difference in crater morphology between Iris and Vesta to their different surface gravities., Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics

The Lixiaohua collisional family lies in the Outer Main Belt, close to the well characterized Themis primitive class family. It is one of the only three families that host two active asteroids that present cometary-like activity: 313P/Gibbs and 358P/PANSTARRS (P/2012 T1). As a part of the PRIMitive Asteroid Spectroscopy Survey (PRIMASS), we present the results of a spectroscopic program where we acquired 36 objects in visible wavelengths, using the 4.1 m SOAR, and, 17 objects in the near-infrared, using the 3.58 m Telescopio Nazionale Galileo, which provided the characterization of 43 out of the 756 identified Lixiaohua family members. We observed asteroids members of the Lixiaohua family with the aim of: (1) determining the spectral class and spectroscopic properties of the family, (2) estimating the presence of hydrated minerals on their surfaces by studying the 0.7 μ m absorption band and the UV drop of reflectance below 0.5 μ m, (3) analyzing if active asteroids 358P and 313P are probable family members. Our results show that the Lixiaohua family is consistently redder families than the Themis family and present a wide variety of slopes. We have not found an unambiguous trace of aqueous alteration in the spectra of the family members, at the observed wavelengths. Finally, we conclude that the Lixiaohua family is the probable source of the Main-Belt Comets 313P/Gibbs and 358P/PANSTARRS.

The Nysa-Polana complex is a group of low-inclination asteroid families in the inner main belt, bounded in semimajor axis by the Mars-crossing region and the Jupiter 3:1 mean-motion resonance. This group is important as the most likely source region for the target of the OSIRIS-REx mission, (101955) Bennu; however, family membership in the region is complicated by the presence of several dynamically overlapping families with a range of surface properties. The large S-type structure in the region appears to be associated with the parent body (135) Hertha, and displays an ($e_\text{P},a_\text{P}$) correlation consistent with a collision event near true anomaly of ~180 degrees with ejecta velocity $v_\text{ej} \sim 285$ m/s. The ejecta distribution from a collision with these orbital properties is predicted to have a maximum semimajor axis dispersion of $\delta a_{ej} = 0.005 \pm 0.008$ AU, which constitutes only a small fraction (7\%) of the observed semimajor axis dispersion, the rest of which is attributed to the Yarkovsky effect. The age of the family is inferred from the Yarkovsky dispersion to be $300^{+60}_{-50}$ My. Objects in a smaller cluster that overlaps the large Hertha family in proper orbital element space have reflectance properties more consistent with the X-type (135) Hertha than the surrounding S-type family. These objects form a distinct Yarkovsky "V" signature in ($a_\text{P},H$) space, consistent with a more recent collision, apparently also dynamically connected to (135) Hertha. The Nysa-Polana complex also contains a low-albedo family associated with (142) Polana (called "New Polana" by Walsh et al. 2013), and two other low-albedo families associated with (495) Eulalia. The second Eulalia family may be a high-$a_\text{P}$, low-$e_\text{P}$, low-$i_\text{P}$ component of the first Eulalia family-forming collision, possibly explained by an anisotropic ejection field., Comment: 20 pages, 15 figures, accepted to Icarus

Eos family was created during a catastrophic impact about 1.3 Gyr ago. Rotation states of individual family members contain information about the history of the whole population. We aim to increase the number of asteroid shape models and rotation states within the Eos collision family, as well as to revise previously published shape models from the literature. Such results can be used to constrain theoretical collisional and evolution models of the family, or to estimate other physical parameters by a thermophysical modeling of the thermal infrared data. We use all available disk-integrated optical data (i.e., classical dense-in-time photometry obtained from public databases and through a large collaboration network as well as sparse-in-time individual measurements from a few sky surveys) as input for the convex inversion method, and derive 3D shape models of asteroids together with their rotation periods and orientations of rotation axes. We present updated shape models for 15 asteroids and new shape model determinations for 16 asteroids. Together with the already published models from the publicly available DAMIT database, we compiled a sample of 56 Eos family members with known shape models that we used in our analysis of physical properties within the family. Rotation states of asteroids smaller than ~20 km are heavily influenced by the YORP effect, whilst the large objects more or less retained their rotation state properties since the family creation. Moreover, we also present a shape model and bulk density of asteroid (423) Diotima, an interloper in the Eos family, based on the disk-resolved data obtained by the Near InfraRed Camera (Nirc2) mounted on the W.M. Keck II telescope., Comment: Accepted for publication in ICARUS Special Issue - Asteroids: Origin, Evolution & Characterization

Context.The vast majority of the geophysical and geological constraints (e.g., internal structure, cratering history) for main-belt asteroids have so far been obtained via dedicated interplanetary missions (e.g., ESA Rosetta, NASA Dawn). The high angular resolution of SPHERE/ZIMPOL, the new-generation visible adaptive-optics camera at ESO VLT, implies that these science objectives can now be investigated from the ground for a large fraction ofD≥ 100 km main-belt asteroids. The sharp images acquired by this instrument can be used to accurately constrain the shape and thus volume of these bodies (hence density when combined with mass estimates) and to characterize the distribution and topography ofD≥ 30 km craters across their surfaces.Aims.Here, via several complementary approaches, we evaluated the recently proposed hypothesis that the S-type asteroid (89) Julia is the parent body of a small compact asteroid family that formed via a cratering collisional event.Methods.We observed (89) Julia with VLT/SPHERE/ZIMPOL throughout its rotation, derived its 3D shape, and performed a reconnaissance and characterization of the largest craters. We also performed numerical simulations to first confirm the existence of the Julia family and to determine its age and the size of the impact crater at its origin. Finally, we utilized the images/3D shape in an attempt to identify the origin location of the small collisional family.Results.On the one hand, our VLT/SPHERE observations reveal the presence of a large crater (D~ 75 km) in Julia’s southern hemisphere. On the other hand, our numerical simulations suggest that (89) Julia was impacted 30–120 Myrs ago by aD~ 8 km asteroid, thereby creating aD≥ 60 km impact crater at the surface of Julia. Given the small size of the impactor, the obliquity of Julia and the particular orientation of the family in the (a,i) space, the imaged impact crater is likely to be the origin of the family.Conclusions.New doors into ground-based asteroid exploration, namely, geophysics and geology, are being opened thanks to the unique capabilities of VLT/SPHERE. Also, the present work may represent the beginning of a new era of asteroid-family studies. In the fields of geophysics, geology, and asteroid family studies, the future will only get brighter with the forthcoming arrival of 30–40 m class telescopes like ELT, TMT, and GMT.

We present near-infrared (0.78–2.45 µm) reflectance spectra for nine middle and outer main belt (a > 2.5 AU) basaltic asteroids. Three of these objects are spectrally distinct from all classifications in the Bus-DeMeo system and could represent spectral end members in the existing taxonomy or be representatives of a new spectral type. The remainder of the sample are classified as V- or R-type. All of these asteroids are dynamically detached from the Vesta collisional family, but are too small to be intact differentiated parent bodies, implying that they originated from differentiated planetesimals which have since been destroyed or ejected from the solar system. The 1- and 2-µm band centers of all objects, determined using the Modified Gaussian Model (MGM), were compared to those of 47 Vestoids and fifteen HED meteorites of known composition. The HEDs enabled us to determine formulas relating Band 1 and Band 2 centers to pyroxene ferrosilite (Fs) compositions. Using these formulas we present the most comprehensive compositional analysis to date of middle and outer belt basaltic asteroids. We also conduct a careful error analysis of the MGM-derived band centers for implementation in future analyses. The six outer belt V- and R-type asteroids show more dispersion in parameter space than the Vestoids, reflecting greater compositional diversity than Vesta and its associated bodies. The objects analyzed have Fs numbers which are, on average, between five and ten molar percent lower than those of the Vestoids; however, identification and compositional analysis of additional outer belt basaltic asteroids would help to confirm or refute this result. Given the gradient in oxidation state which existed within the solar nebula, these results tentatively suggest that these objects formed at either a different time or location than 4 Vesta., NASA (Grant 09-NEOO009-0001), National Science Foundation (Grants 0506716 and 0907766)

Ceres is unusual among large (>250 km) asteroids in lacking a dynamical family. We explore possible explanations, noting that its particularly large size and the ubiquity of families associated with other large asteroids makes avoidance of a sufficiently-sized collision by chance exceedingly unlikely. Current models of Ceres’ thermal history and interior structure favor a differentiated object with an icy near-surface covered by an ∼0.1–1 km lag deposit, which could result in a collisional family of diverse, predominately icy bodies. We predict that sublimation of an icy Ceres family would occur on timescales of hundreds of millions of years, much shorter than the history of the Solar System. Sublimation on a Ceres family body would be aided by a low non-ice fraction and a high average temperature, both of which would inhibit lag deposit development. Because there seems to be no likely mechanism for removing a rocky Ceres family, and because the formation of a Ceres family of some kind seems nearly statistically inevitable, the lack of a Ceres family is indirect but independent evidence for Ceres’ differentiation. All of the other large asteroids lacking dynamical families (704 Interamnia, 52 Europa, and 65 Cybele) have spectral properties similar to Ceres, or otherwise suggesting ice at their surfaces. While other large asteroids with similar spectral properties do have families (24 Themis, 10 Hygiea, 31 Euphrosyne), their families are not well understood, particularly Hygiea.

The Hungaria asteroids are interior to the main asteroid belt, with semimajor axes between 1.8 and 2 AU, low eccentricities and inclinations of 16-35 degrees. Small asteroids in the Hungaria region are dominated by a collisional family associated with (434) Hungaria. The dominant spectral type of the Hungaria group is the E or X-type (Warner et al, 2009), mostly due to the E-type composition of Hungaria and its genetic family. It is widely believed the E-type asteroids are related to the aubrite meteorites, also known as enstatite achondrites (Gaffey et al, 1992). Here we explore the hypothesis that aubrites originate in the Hungaria family. In order to test this connection, we compare model Cosmic Ray Exposure ages from orbital integrations of model meteoroids with those of aubrites. We show that long CRE ages of aubrites (longest among stony meteorite groups) reflect the delivery route of meteoroids from Hungarias to Earth being different than those from main-belt asteroids. We find that the meteoroids from Hungarias predominantly reach Earth by Yarkovsky-drifting across the orbit of Mars, with no assistance from orbital resonances. We conclude that the CRE ages of aubrites are fully consistent with a dominant source at the inner boundary of the Hungaria family at 1.7 AU. From here, meteoroids reach Earth through the Mars-crossing region, with relatively quick delivery times favored due to collisions (with Hungarias and the inner main-belt objects). We find that, after Vesta, (434) Hungaria is the best candidate for an asteroidal source of an achondrite group., Comment: Accepted for Icarus

We have calculated the figure of equilibrium of a rapidly rotating, differentiated body to determine the shape, structure, and composition of the dwarf planet Haumea. Previous studies of Haumea's light curve have suggested that Haumea is a uniform triaxial ellipsoid consistent with a Jacobi ellipsoid with axes ≈960 × 774 × 513 km and bulk density ≈2600 kg m−3. In contrast, observations of a recent occultation of Haumea indicate that its axes are ≈1161 × 852 × 523 km and its bulk density is ≈1885 kg m−3; these results suggest that Haumea cannot be a fluid in hydrostatic equilibrium and must be supported by interparticle forces. We have written a code to reconcile these contradictory results and to determine whether Haumea is in fact a fluid in hydrostatic equilibrium. The code calculates the equilibrium shape, density, and ice crust thickness of a differentiated Haumea after imposing axis lengths a and b. We find that Haumea is consistent with a differentiated triaxial ellipsoid fluid in hydrostatic equilibrium with axes of best fit a = 1050 km, b = 840 km, and c = 537 km. This solution for Haumea has ρ avg = 2018 kg m−3, ρ core = 2680 kg m−3, and core axes a c = 883 km, b c = 723 km, and c c = 470 km, which equates to an ice mantle composing ~17% of Haumea's volume and ranging from 67 to 167 km in thickness. The thick ice crust we infer allows for Haumea's collisional family to represent only a small fraction of Haumea's pre-collisional ice crust. For a wide range of parameters, the core density we calculate for Haumea suggests that today the core is composed of hydrated silicates and likely underwent serpentinization in the past.

Ortiz, José Luis et. al., Haumea-one of the four known trans-Neptunian dwarf planets- is a very elongated and rapidly rotating body1-3. In contrast to other dwarf planets4-6, its size, shape, albedo and density are not well constrained. The Centaur Chariklo was the first body other than a giant planet known to have a ring system7, and the Centaur Chiron was later found to possess something similar to Chariklo's rings8,9. Here we report observations from multiple Earth-based observatories of Haumea passing in front of a distant star (a multichord stellar occultation). Secondary events observed around the main body of Haumea are consistent with the presence of a ring with an opacity of 0.5, width of 70 kilometres and radius of about 2,287 kilometres. The ring is coplanar with both Haumea's equator and the orbit of its satellite Hi'iaka. The radius of the ring places it close to the 3:1 mean-motion resonance with Haumea's spin period-that is, Haumea rotates three times on its axis in the time that a ring particle completes one revolution. The occultation by the main body provides an instantaneous elliptical projected shape with axes of about 1,704 kilometres and 1,138 kilometres. Combined with rotational light curves, the occultation constrains the three-dimensional orientation of Haumea and its triaxial shape, which is inconsistent with a homogeneous body in hydrostatic equilibrium. Haumea's largest axis is at least 2,322 kilometres, larger than previously thought, implying an upper limit for its density of 1,885 kilograms per cubic metre and a geometric albedo of 0.51, both smaller than previous estimates1,10,11. In addition, this estimate of the density of Haumea is closer to that of Pluto than are previous estimates, in line with expectations. No global nitrogen- or methane-dominated atmosphere was detected.© 2017 Macmillan Publishers Limited, part of Springer Nature. All rights reserved., J.L.O. acknowledges funding from Spanish and Andalusian grants MINECO AYA-2014-56637-C2-1-P and J. A. 2012-FQM1776 as well as FEDER funds. Part of the research leading to these results received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme, under grant agreement no. 687378. B.S. acknowledges support from the French grants 'Beyond Neptune' ANR-08-BLAN-0177 and 'Beyond Neptune II' ANR-11-1S56-0002. Part of the research leading to these results has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Community's H2020 (2014-2020/ERG grant agreement no. 669416 'Lucky Star'). A.P. and R.S. have been supported by the grant LP2012-31 of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. All of the Hungarian contributors acknowledge the partial support from K-125015 grant of the National Research, Development and Innovation Office (NKFIH). G.B.-R., F.B.-R., F.L.R., R.V.-M., J.I.B.C., M.A., A.R.G.-J. and B.E.M. acknowledge support from CAPES, CNPq and FAPERJ. J.C.G. acknowledges funding from AYA2015-63939-C2-2-P and from the Generalitat Valenciana PROMETEOII/2014/057. K.H. and P.P. were supported by the project RVO:67985815. The Astronomical Observatory of the Autonomous Region of the Aosta Valley acknowledges a Shoemaker NEO Grant 2013 from The Planetary Society. We acknowledge funds from a 2016 'Research and Education' grant from Fondazione CRT. We also acknowledge the Slovakian project ITMS no. 26220120029.

Two primitive near Earth asteroids, (101955) Bennu and (162173) Ryugu, will be visited by a spacecraft with the aim of returning samples back to Earth. Since these objects are believed to originate in the inner main belt primitive collisional families (Erigone, Polana, Clarissa, and Sulamitis) or in the background of asteroids outside these families, the characterization of these primitive populations will enhance the scientific return of the missions. The main goal of this work is to shed light on the composition of the Erigone collisional family by means of visible spectroscopy. Asteroid (163) Erigone has been classified as a primitive object, and we expect the members of this family to be consistent with the spectral type of the parent body. We have obtained visible spectra (0.5 to 0.9 microns) for 101 members of the Erigone family, using the OSIRIS instrument at the 10.4 m Gran Telescopio Canarias. We found that 87 percent of the objects have typically primitive visible spectra consistent with that of (163) Erigone. In addition, we found that a significant fraction of these objects (approximately 50 percent) present evidence of aqueous alteration.

Context. B-type asteroids constitute a peculiar spectral class within the C-complex. Previous work has pointed out the difference between the visible geometric albedos of B-types and those of the Pallas collisional family (PCF), whose few members with observed spectra are B-types (one exception out of eight objects). This has been interpreted as being due to compositional differences. However, the PCF members are typically smaller than the spectroscopically classified B-types, and the following possibilities have not been ruled out: the albedo differences might be related to a size-albedo dependence and/or to the generally larger errors of the WISE data and best-fitting values of the derived parameters expected for smaller objects. Aims. We compare albedos and beaming parameters of PCF members and B-types of similar sizes and re-examine our conclusion on the different composition of the PCF. Methods. By modelling their WISE/NEOWISE data, we derived sizes and albedos of all objects whose Sloan Digital Sky Survey reflectances are similar to the typical B-type reflectance spectra. In particular, we derived the so-called infrared beaming parameters (η), effective diameters (D), and corresponding visible geometric albedos (pV), and studied their value distributions. Results. We obtained the effective diameter and geometric visible albedo for ~600 B-type asteroids whose sizes range between 2 and 100 km, approximately half of which have fitted η-values that are inversely correlated to size. We found that the albedo distributions of the PCF is significantly different from that of other B-types in the same size range (2-20 km), and we rule out any size-albedo dependency or biases related to the lower quality of the pV-values of smaller objects. In addition, we also found differences between the η-value distribution of the PCF and the other similarly-sized B-types. Conclusions. The differences in the visible albedos of PCF members and the other B-types of similar sizes is a strong indication that their compositions are different. The trend between beaming parameter and size of the B-types (excluding the PCF) is consistent with the expectation that the surfaces of smaller asteroids have coarser rocks than do those of larger objects (D> 40 km), which are thought to be covered by a finer, more insulating layer of dust. Fil: Alí Lagoa, V.. Université de la Côte d’Azur; Francia. Instituto de Astrofísica de Canaria; España. Universidad de La Laguna; España Fil: Licandro, J.. Universidad de La Laguna; España. Instituto de Astrofísica de Canaria; España Fil: Gil Hutton, Ricardo Alfredo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Juan. Complejo Astronómico "El Leoncito". Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Complejo Astronómico "El Leoncito". Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Complejo Astronómico "El Leoncito". Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Complejo Astronómico "El Leoncito"; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de San Juan; Argentina Fil: Cañada Assandri, Marcela Inés. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Juan. Complejo Astronómico "El Leoncito". Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Complejo Astronómico "El Leoncito". Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Complejo Astronómico "El Leoncito". Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Complejo Astronómico "El Leoncito"; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de San Juan; Argentina Fil: Delbon, Marisa Ester. Université de la Côte d’Azur; Francia Fil: De León, J.. Instituto de Astrofísica de Canaria; España. Universidad de La Laguna; España Fil: Campins, H.. University of Central Florida; Estados Unidos Fil: Pinilla Alonso, N.. University of Tennessee; Estados Unidos. University of Central Florida; Estados Unidos Fil: Kelley, M. S. P.. University of Maryland; Estados Unidos Fil: Hanus, J.. Université de la Côte d’Azur; Francia

We report new Hubble Space Telescope and Spitzer Space Telescope results concerning the physical properties of the trans-neptunian object (TNO) binaries (120347) Salacia–Actaea (formerly 2004 SB 60 ), and (42355) Typhon–Echidna (formerly 2002 CR 46 ). The mass of the (120347) Salacia–Actaea system is 4.66 ± 0.22 × 10 20 kg. The semi-major axis, period, and eccentricity of the binary orbit are a = 5619 ± 87 km, P = 5.49380 ± 0.00016 days, and e = 0.0084 ± 0.0076, respectively. In terms of the ratio of the semimajor axis to the radius of the Hill sphere, a / r H , (120347) Salacia–Actaea is the tightest TNO binary system with a known orbit. Based on hybrid Standard Thermal Model (hybrid-STM) fits to the data, the effective diameter and V-band geometric albedo of the system are D = 954 ± 109 km (making it one of the largest known TNOs), and p V = 3.57 - 0.72 + 1.03 % . Thermophysical models for (120347) Salacia suggest that it probably has a thermal inertia ⩽5 J m −2 s −1/2 K −1 , although we cannot rule out values as high as 30 J m −2 s −1/2 K −1 . Based on the magnitude difference between Salacia and Actaea, δ = 2.37 ± 0.06, we estimate their individual diameters to be d 1 = 905 ± 103 km and d 2 = 303 ± 35 km. The mass density of the components is ρ = 1.16 - 0.36 + 0.59 g/cm 3 . Hybrid-STM fits to new Spitzer data for Typhon–Echidna give an effective diameter and V-band geometric albedo for the system of D = 157 ± 34 km, and p V = 6.00 - 2.08 + 4.10 % . Thermophysical models for (42355) Typhon suggest somewhat lower albedos (probably no higher than about 8.2%, as compared to the hybrid-STM upper limit of 10.1%). Taken together with the previously reported mass, this diameter indicates a density of ρ = 0.60 - 0.29 + 0.72 g / cm 3 , consistent with the very low densities of most other TNOs smaller than 500 km diameter. Both objects must have significant amounts of void space in their interiors, particularly if they contain silicates as well as water–ice (as is expected). The ensemble of binary-TNO densities suggests a trend of increasing density with size, with objects smaller than 400 km diameter all having densities less than 1 g/cm 3 , and those with diameters greater than 800 km all having densities greater than 1 g/cm 3 . If the eccentricity of the binary orbit of (42355) Typhon–Echidna is not due to recent perturbations, considerations of tidal evolution suggest that (42355) Typhon–Echidna must have a rigidity close to that of solid water ice, otherwise the orbital eccentricity of the system would have been damped by now.

Recently, the first collisional family was identified in the trans-Neptunian belt. The family consists of Haumea and at least ten other ~100km-sized trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) located in the region a = 42 - 44.5 AU. In this work, we model the long-term orbital evolution of an ensemble of fragments representing hypothetical post-collision distributions at the time of the family's birth. We consider three distinct scenarios, in which the kinetic energy of dispersed particles were varied such that their mean ejection velocities (veje) were of order 200 m/s, 300 m/s and 400 m/s, respectively. Each simulation considered resulted in collisional families that reproduced that currently observed. The results suggest that 60-75% of the fragments created in the collision will remain in the trans-Neptunian belt, even after 4 Gyr of dynamical evolution. The surviving particles were typically concentrated in wide regions of orbital element space centred on the initial impact location, with their orbits spread across a region spanning {\Delta}a ~ 6-12 AU, {\Delta}e ~ 0.1-0.15 and {\Delta}i ~ 7-10{\deg}. Most of the survivors populated the so-called Classical and Detached regions of the trans-Neptunian belt, whilst a minor fraction entered the Scattered Disk reservoir (

We model the long-term evolution of the Hilda collisional family located in the 3/2 mean-motion resonance with Jupiter. Its eccentricity distribution evolves mostly due to the Yarkovsky/YORP effect and assuming that: (i) impact disruption was isotropic, and (ii) albedo distribution of small asteroids is the same as for large ones, we can estimate the age of the Hilda family to be $4_{-1}^{+0}\,{\rm Gyr}$. We also calculate collisional activity in the J3/2 region. Our results indicate that current collisional rates are very low for a 200\,km parent body such that the number of expected events over Gyrs is much smaller than one. The large age and the low probability of the collisional disruption lead us to the conclusion that the Hilda family might have been created during the Late Heavy Bombardment when the collisions were much more frequent. The Hilda family may thus serve as a test of orbital behavior of planets during the LHB. We tested the influence of the giant-planet migration on the distribution of the family members. The scenarios that are consistent with the observed Hilda family are those with fast migration time scales $\simeq 0.3\,{\rm Myr}$ to $3\,{\rm Myr}$, because longer time scales produce a family that is depleted and too much spread in eccentricity. Moreover, there is an indication that Jupiter and Saturn were no longer in a compact configuration (with period ratio $P_{\rm S}/P_{\rm J} > 2.09$) at the time when the Hilda family was created.

We study orbital and physical properties of Trojan asteroids of Jupiter. We try to discern all families previously discussed in literature, but we conclude there is only one significant family among Trojans, namely the cluster around asteroid (3548) Eurybates. It is the only cluster, which has all of the following characteristics: (i) it is clearly concentrated in the proper-element space; (ii) size-frequency distribution is different from background asteroids; (iii) we have a reasonable collisional/dynamical model of the family. Henceforth, we can consider it as a real collisional family. We also report a discovery of a possible family around the asteroid (4709) Ennomos, composed mostly of small asteroids. The asteroid (4709) Ennomos is known to have a very high albedo $p_V \simeq 0.15$, which may be related to a hypothetical cratering event which exposed ice (Fernandez et al. 2003). The relation between the collisional family and the exposed surface of the parent body is a unique opportunity to study the physics of cratering events. However, more data are needed to confirm the existence of this family and its relationship with Ennomos.

There are approximately 5000 known asteroids in the Hungaria orbital space, a region defined by orbits with high inclination (16 < i

Recently, the first collisional family was discovered in the Kuiper belt. The parent body of this family, Haumea, is one of the largest objects in the Kuiper belt and is orbited by two satellites. It has been proposed that the Haumea family was created from dispersed fragments that resulted from a giant impact. This proposed origin of the Haumea family is however in conflict with the observed velocity dispersion between the family members (\sim 140 m/s) which is significantly less than the escape velocity from Haumea's surface (\sim 900 m/s). In this paper we propose a different formation scenario for Haumea's collisional family. In our scenario the family members are ejected while in orbit around Haumea. This scenario, therefore, gives naturally rise to a lower velocity dispersion among the family members than expected from direct ejection from Haumea's surface. In our scenario Haumea's giant impact forms a single moon that tidally evolves outward until it suffers a destructive collision from which the family is created. We show that this formation scenario yields a velocity dispersion of \sim 190m/s among the family members which is in good agreement with the observations. The probability for Haumea's initial giant impact in todays Kuiper belt is less than 10^{-3}. In our scenario, however, Haumea's giant impact can occur before the excitation of the Kuiper belt and the ejection of the family members afterwards. This has the advantage that one can preserve the dynamical coherence of the family and explain Haumea's original giant impact, which is several orders of magnitude more likely to have occurred in the primordial dynamically cold Kuiper belt compared to the dynamically excited Kuiper belt today. Abridged, Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ, 14 pages, 1 figure

The observationally complete sample of the main belt asteroids now spans more than two orders of magnitude in size and numbers more than 64,000 (excluding collisional family members). We undertook an analysis of asteroids' eccentricities and their interpretation with simple physical models. We find that Plummer's (1916) conclusion that the asteroids' eccentricities follow a Rayleigh distribution holds for the osculating eccentricities of large asteroids, but the proper eccentricities deviate from a Rayleigh distribution: there is a deficit of eccentricities smaller than $\sim0.1$ and an excess of larger eccentricities. We further find that the proper eccentricities do not depend significantly on asteroid size but have strong dependence on heliocentric distance: the outer asteroid belt follows a Rayleigh distribution, but the inner belt is strikingly different. Eccentricities in the inner belt can be modeled as a vector sum of a primordial eccentricity vector of random orientation and magnitude drawn from a Rayleigh distribution of parameter $\sim0.06$, and an excitation of random phase and magnitude $\sim0.13$. These results imply that a late dynamical excitation of the asteroids occurred, it was independent of asteroid size, it was stronger in the inner belt than in the outer belt. We discuss implications for the primordial asteroid belt and suggest that the observationally complete sample size of main belt asteroids is large enough that more sophisticated model-fitting of the eccentricities is warranted and could serve to test alternative theoretical models of the dynamical excitation history of asteroids and its links to the migration history of the giant planets., Comment: 10 pages. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

We investigate the morphology of size–frequency distributions (SFDs) resulting from impacts into 100-km-diameter parent asteroids, represented by a suite of 161 SPH/N-body simulations conducted to study asteroid satellite formation [Durda, D.D., Bottke, W.F., Enke, B.L., Merline, W.J., Asphaug, E., Richardson, D.C., Leinhardt, Z.M., 2004. Icarus 170, 243–257]. The spherical basalt projectiles range in diameter from 10 to 46 km (in equally spaced mass increments in logarithmic space, covering six discrete sizes), impact speeds range from 2.5 to 7 km/s (generally in 1 km/s increments), and impact angles range from 15° to 75° (nearly head-on to very oblique) in 15° increments. These modeled SFD morphologies match very well the observed SFDs of many known asteroid families. We use these modeled SFDs to scale to targets both larger and smaller than 100 km in order to gain insights into the circumstances of the impacts that formed these families. Some discrepancies occur for families with parent bodies smaller than a few tens of kilometers in diameter (e.g., 832 Karin), however, so due caution should be used in applying our results to such small families. We find that ∼20 observed main-belt asteroid families are produced by the catastrophic disruption of D > 100 km parent bodies. Using these data as constraints, collisional modeling work [Bottke Jr., W.F., Durda, D.D., Nesvorný, D., Jedicke, R., Morbidelli, A., Vokrouhlický, D., Levison, H.F., 2005b. Icarus 179, 63–94] suggests that the threshold specific energy, Q D ∗ , needed to eject 50% of the target body's mass is very close to that predicted by Benz and Asphaug [Benz, W., Asphaug, E., 1999. Icarus 142, 5–20].

The Yarkovsky and YORP (Yarkovsky-O'Keefe-Radzievskii-Paddack) effects are thermal radiation forces and torques that cause small objects to undergo semimajor axis drift and spin vector modifications, respectively, as a function of their spin, orbit, and material properties. These mechanisms help to (a) deliver asteroids (and meteoroids) with diameter D < 40 km from their source locations in the main belt to chaotic resonance zones capable of transporting this material to Earth-crossing orbits; (b) disperse asteroid families, with drifting bodies jumping or becoming trapped in mean-motion and secular resonances within the main belt; (c) modify the rotation rates and obliquities of D < 40 km asteroids; and (d) allow asteroids to enter into spin-orbit resonances, which affect the evolution of their spin vectors and feedback into the Yarkovsky-driven semimajor axis evolution. Accordingly, we suggest that nongravitational forces should now be considered as important as collisions and gravitational perturbations to our overall understanding of asteroid evolution.

Asteroid families are the byproducts of catastrophic collisions whose fragments form clusters in proper semimajor axis, eccentricity, and inclination space. Although many families have been observed in the main asteroid belt, only two very young families, Karin and Veritas, have well-determined ages. The ages of other families are needed, however, if we hope to infer information about their ejection velocity fields, space weathering processes, etc. In this paper, we developed a method that allows us to estimate the ages of moderately young asteroid families (approximately in between 0.1 and 1 Gyr). We apply it to four suitable cases—Erigone, Massalia, Merxia, and Astrid—and derive their likely ages and approximate ejection velocity fields. We find that Erigone and Merxia were produced by large catastrophic disruption events (i.e., parent body 100 km) that occurred approximately 280 and 330 Myr ago, respectively. The Massalia family was likely produced by a cratering event on Asteroid (20) Massalia less than 200 Myr ago. Finally, the Astrid family, which was produced by the disruption of a 60–70 km asteroid, is 100–200 Myr old, though there is considerable uncertainty in this result. We estimate that the initial ejection velocities for these families were only a few tens of meters per second, consistent with numerical hydrocode models of asteroid impacts. Our results help to verify that asteroid families are constantly undergoing dynamical orbital evolution from thermal (Yarkovsky) forces and spin vector evolution from thermal (YORP) torques.

Planet formation models suggest the primordial main belt experienced a short but intense period of collisional evolution shortly after the formation of planetary embryos. This period is believed to have lasted until Jupiter reached its full size, when dynamical processes (e.g., sweeping resonances, excitation via planetary embryos) ejected most planetesimals from the main belt zone. The few planetesimals left behind continued to undergo comminution at a reduced rate until the present day. We investigated how this scenario affects the main belt size distribution over Solar System history using a collisional evolution model (CoEM) that accounts for these events. CoEM does not explicitly include results from dynamical models, but instead treats the unknown size of the primordial main belt and the nature/timing of its dynamical depletion using innovative but approximate methods. Model constraints were provided by the observed size frequency distribution of the asteroid belt, the observed population of asteroid families, the cratered surface of differentiated Asteroid (4) Vesta, and the relatively constant crater production rate of the Earth and Moon over the last 3 Gyr. Using CoEM, we solved for both the shape of the initial main belt size distribution after accretion and the asteroid disruption scaling law Q ∗ . In contrast to previous efforts, we find our derived Q ∗ function is very similar to results produced by numerical hydrocode simulations of asteroid impacts. Our best fit results suggest the asteroid belt experienced as much comminution over its early history as it has since it reached its low-mass state approximately 3.9–4.5 Ga. These results suggest the main belt’s wavy-shaped size-frequency distribution is a “fossil” from this violent early epoch. We find that most diameter D 120 km asteroids are primordial, with their physical properties likely determined during the accretion epoch. Conversely, most smaller asteroids are byproducts of fragmentation events. The observed changes in the asteroid spin rate and lightcurve distributions near D ∼ 100– 120 km are likely to be a byproduct of this difference. Estimates based on our results imply the primordial main belt population (in the form of D< 1000 km bodies) was 150–250 times larger than it is today, in agreement with recent dynamical simulations.

Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) observations in 1983 revealed the existence of several solar system dust bands. These dust bands are believed to be debris produced by recent disruption events among main-belt asteroids, particularly because dust particles have short dynamical and collisional lifetimes. Using young asteroid families as tracers of recent disruptions in the main belt, we linked the most prominent IRAS dust bands with their sources. We propose that the source regions of the dust bands with inclination 935 and 21 are the Veritas asteroid family at 3.17 AU and the Karin cluster located inside the Koronis asteroid family at 2.865 AU, respectively. The Veritas family and the Karin cluster formed by collisional disruptions of their ~140 and ~25 km diameter parent bodies at 8.3 ± 0.5 and 5.8 ± 0.2 Myr ago, respectively. Asteroid material from the former source may represent about one-quarter of the interplanetary dust particles that have been collected in the Earth's stratosphere (and that have been extensively studied in laboratories). We were unable to identify a recent collision in the main-belt region that could be responsible for the 14 IRAS dust band. The region of the Themis family remains the best candidate for this dust band. We speculate that the (4652) Iannini cluster (5 Myr old, ~12° inclination) is the source for the J/K dust band and that the (1521) Seinajoki cluster (~15° inclination) is the ultimate source for the M/N dust band. We point out that the dust bands' spatial distributions are consistent with our proposed sources. This, and the fact that many prominent but ancient asteroid families have no associated dust bands, strongly suggests that dust bands are primarily by-products of recent asteroid breakup events that occur throughout the main belt.

We present visible-wavelength (0.435–0.925 μm) spectroscopic measurements for 1341 main-belt asteroids observed during the second phase of the Small Main-belt Asteroid Spectroscopic Survey (SMASSII). The purpose of this survey is to provide a new basis for studying the compositional structure of the asteroid belt. Through the large sample size and the relatively high spectral resolution (R∼100) of the SMASSII data, we find that values of the spectral parameters describing these data form more of a continuum than previously realized. Objects with intermediate spectral characteristics are bridging gaps that once separated distinct spectral classes. In some cases, newly revealed small-scale spectral features may be indicative of previously unrecognized mineral constituents. Here we present the data and principal component analyses that describe the SMASSII spectra. A companion paper utilizes these principal component scores, along with other measures of the spectral features, to develop a new taxonomy that takes advantage of the information contained within charge-coupled device spectra.

The second phase of the Small Main-belt Asteroid Spectroscopic Survey (SMASSII) produced an internally consistent set of visible-wavelength charge-coupled device (CCD) spectra for 1447 asteroids (Bus and Binzel 2002, Icarus, ). These data provide a basis for developing a new asteroid taxonomy that utilizes more of the information contained in CCD spectra. Here we construct a classification system that builds on the robust framework provided by existing asteroid taxonomies. In particular, we define three major groupings (the S-, C-, and X-complexes) that adhere to the classical definitions of the S-, C-, and X-type asteroids. A total of 26 classes are defined, based on the presence or absence of specific spectral features. Definitions and boundary parameters are provided for each class, allowing new spectral observations to be placed in this system. Of these 26 classes, 12 bear familiar single-letter designations that follow previous conventions: A, B, C, D, K, O, Q, R, S, T, V, and X. A new L-class is introduced to describe 35 objects with spectra having a steep UV slope shortward of 0.75 μm, but which are relatively flat longward of 0.75 μm. Asteroids with intermediate spectral characteristics are assigned multiletter designations: Cb, Cg, Cgh, Ch, Ld, Sa, Sk, Sl, Sq, Sr, Xc, Xe, and Xk. Members of the Cgh- and Ch-classes have spectra containing a 0.7-μm feature that is generally attributed to hydration. Although previously considered featureless, CCD observations reveal distinct features of varying strengths in the spectra of asteroids in the X-complex, thus allowing the Xc-, Xe-, and Xk-classes to be established. Most notably, the spectra of Xe-type asteroids contain an absorption feature centered near 0.49 μm that may be associated with troilite. Several new members are identified for previously unique or sparsely populated classes: 12 A-types, 3 O-types, and 3 R-types. Q-types are common within the near-Earth asteroid population but remain unobserved in the main belt. More than 30 new V-types are found in the vicinity of Vesta. The heliocentric distribution of the SMASSII taxonomic classes is similar to that determined from previous studies, though additional structure is revealed as a result of the larger sample size.

Asteroid families are believed to originate by catastrophic disruptions of large asteroids. They are nowadays identified as clusters in the proper orbital elements space. The proper elements are analytically defined as constants of motion of a suitably simplified dynamical system. Indeed, they are generally nearly constant on a 10 7 –10 8 -year time scale. Over longer time intervals, however, they may significantly change, reflecting the accumulation of the tiny nonperiodic evolutions provided by chaos and nonconservative forces. The most important effects leading to a change of the proper orbital elements are (i) the chaotic diffusion in narrow mean motion resonances, (ii) the Yarkovsky nongravitational force, and (iii) the gravitational impulses received at close approaches with large asteroids. A natural question then arises: How are the size and shape of an asteroid family modified due to evolution of the proper orbital elements of its members over the family age? In this paper, we concentrate on the dynamical dispersion of the proper eccentricity and inclination, which occurs due to (i), but with the help of (ii) and (iii). We choose the Flora family as a model case because it is unusually dispersed in eccentricity and inclination and, being located in the inner main belt, is intersected by a large number of effective mean motion resonances with Mars and Jupiter. Our results suggest that the Flora family dynamically disperses on a few 10 8 -year time scale and that its age may be significantly less than 10 9 years. We discuss the possibility that the parent bodies of the Flora family and of the ordinary L chondrite meteorites are the same object. In a broader sense, this work suggests that the common belief that the present asteroid families are simple images of their primordial dynamical structure should be revised.

We present additional and revised IRAS diameters and albedos for the 1992 IRAS Minor Planet Survey (IMPS). Using orbital elements for 26,791 numbered asteroids, we found 2228 different multiply observed asteroids associated with IRAS sources, an increase of 432 (24%) over IMPS. The IRAS sample of small asteroids, diameters D < 20.0 km, has increased by 72% (from 306 to 526), the sample of Jupiter Trojan asteroids by 77% (from 39 to 69), and the sample of small Trojan asteroids (D < 80 km) by nearly a factor of 3 (from nine to 26). We present the entire Supplemental IRAS Minor Planet Survey data set, describe how it was created, compare it with the IMPS data set, and estimate how many more asteroids remain to be found in the IRAS data.

Most Howardite-Eucrite-Diogenite (HED) meteorites (analogs to V-type asteroids) are thought to originate from asteroid (4) Vesta. However, some HEDs show distinct oxygen isotope ratios and therefore are thought to originate from other asteroids. In this study, we try to identify asteroids that may represent parent bodies of those mismatching HEDs. In particular, the origin of the anomalous Bunburra Rockhole meteorite was traced back to the inner main asteroid belt, showing that there might be asteroids that are not genetically linked to the asteroid (4) Vesta (the main source of V-type asteroids and HED meteorites) in the inner main belt. In this work we identify V-type asteroids outside the dynamical Vesta family whose rotational properties (retrograde vs prograde rotation) suggest the direction of Yarkovsky drift that sets them apart from typical Vestoids and Vesta fugitives. Specifically Nesvorny et al. 2008 simulated escapes paths from the Vesta family and showed that typical Vesta fugitives in the inner main asteroid belt at semi-major axis a < 2.3 AU have to have retrograde rotations and physical and thermal parameters that maximize the Yarkovsky force in order to evolve to scattered orbits within 1-2 Gyrs (age of the Vesta collisional family). Therefore large asteroids outside the Vesta family and with a < 2.3 AU and having thermal and rotational properties minimizing the Yarkovsky drift or showing Yarkovsky drift direction towards (4) Vesta are the best candidates for non-Vestoids V-type asteroids and therefore parent bodies of anomalous HED. In this study, we have performed accurate photometric observations and determined sense of rotation for several asteroids testing their links to Vesta and anomalous HED. We have found several potential non-Vestoid candidates. Those objects have to be studied in more detail to fully confirm their link to anomalous HEDs.

The orbital distributions of prominent asteroid families are thought to be direct by-products of catastrophic disruption events among diameter D ≳ 100 kilometer bodies. Ejection velocities derived from studying observed families, however, are surprisingly high compared with results from impact experiments and simulations. One way to resolve this apparent contradiction is by assuming that D ≲ 20 kilometer family members, since their formation, have undergone semimajor axis drift by the thermal force called the Yarkovsky effect. Interactions between drifting family members and resonances can also produce unique eccentricity and/or inclination changes. Together, these outcomes help explain (i) why families are sharply bounded by nearby Kirkwood gaps, (ii) why some families have asymmetric shapes, and (iii) the curious presence of family members on short-lived orbits.

We discuss measurements of the properties of about 10,000 asteroids detected in 500 deg2 of sky in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) commissioning data. The moving objects are detected in the magnitude range 14 < r < 21.5, with a baseline of 5 minutes. Extensive tests show that the sample is at least 98% complete, with the contamination rate of less than 3%. We find that the size distribution of asteroids resembles a broken power-law, independent of the heliocentric distance: D^{-2.3} for 0.4 km 1 km in the asteroid belt, or about four times less than previous estimates. The distribution of main belt asteroids in the 4-dimensional SDSS color space is bimodal, and the two groups can be associated with S (rocky) and C (carbonaceous) asteroids. A strong bimodality is also seen in the heliocentric distribution of asteroids and suggests the existence of two distinct belts: the inner rocky belt, about 1 AU wide (FWHM) and centered at R~2.8 AU, and the outer carbonaceous belt, about 0.5 AU wide and centered at R~3.2 AU. The colors of Hungarias, Mars crossers, and near-Earth objects are more similar to the C-type than to S-type asteroids, suggesting that they originate in the outer belt. (abridged).

We present the visible spectrum of asteroid-comet transition object 133P/Elst-Pizarro (7968), the first member of the new population of objects called Main Belt Comets (Hsieh & Jewitt 2006). The spectrum was obtained with the 4.2m William Herschel Telescope at the “Roque de los Muchachos” observatory. The orbital elements of 133P place it within the Themis collisional family, but the observed cometary activity during it last 3 perihelion passages also suggest a possible origin in the trans-Neptunian belt or the Oort Cloud, the known sources of comets. We found a clear similarity between our spectrum of 133P and those of other members of the Themis family such as 62 Erato, and a strong contrast with those of cometary nuclei, such as 162P/Siding-Spring. This spectral comparison leads us to conclude that 133P is unlikely to have a cometary origin. This conclusion is strengthened by spectral similarities with activated near-Earth asteroid 3200 Phaethon, and suggest that there are activated asteroids in the near-Earth asteroid and main belt populations with similar surface properties.

Current amount of ~500 asteroid models derived from the disk-integrated photometry by the lightcurve inversion method allows us to study not only the spin-vector properties of the whole population of MBAs, but also of several individual collisional families. We create a data set of 152 asteroids that were identified by the HCM method as members of ten collisional families, among them are 31 newly derived unique models and 24 new models with well-constrained pole-ecliptic latitudes of the spin axes. The remaining models are adopted from the DAMIT database or the literature. We revise the preliminary family membership identification by the HCM method according to several additional criteria - taxonomic type, color, albedo, maximum Yarkovsky semi-major axis drift and the consistency with the size-frequency distribution of each family, and consequently we remove interlopers. We then present the spin-vector distributions for eight asteroidal families. We use a combined orbital- and spin-evolution model to explain the observed spin-vector properties of objects among collisional families. In general, we observe for studied families similar trends in the (a_p, \beta) space: (i) larger asteroids are situated in the proximity of the center of the family; (ii) asteroids with \beta>0{\deg} are usually found to the right from the family center; (iii) on the other hand, asteroids with \beta0{\deg} or \beta, Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A (September 16, 2013)

Haumea is a dwarf planet with two known satellites, an unusually high spin rate, and a large collisional family, making it one of the most interesting objects in the outer solar system. A fully self-consistent formation scenario responsible for the satellite and family formation is still elusive, but some processes predict the initial formation of many small moons, similar to the small moons recently discovered around Pluto. Deep searches for regular satellites around KBOs are difficult due to observational limitations, but Haumea is one of the few for which sufficient data exist. We analyze Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations, focusing on a ten-consecutive-orbit sequence obtained in July 2010, to search for new very small satellites. To maximize the search depth, we implement and validate a non-linear shift-and-stack method. No additional satellites of Haumea are found, but by implanting and recovering artificial sources, we characterize our sensitivity. At distances between $\sim$10,000 km and $\sim$350,000 km from Haumea, satellites with radii as small as $\sim$10 km are ruled out, assuming an albedo ($p \simeq 0.7$) similar to Haumea. We also rule out satellites larger than $\gtrsim$40 km in most of the Hill sphere using other HST data. This search method rules out objects similar in size to the small moons of Pluto. By developing clear criteria for determining the number of non-linear rates to use, we find that far fewer shift rates are required ($\sim$35) than might be expected. The non-linear shift-and-stack method to discover satellites (and other moving transients) is tractable, particularly in the regime where non-linear motion begins to manifest itself.

Ever since the very first photometric studies of Centaurs and Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) their visible color distribution has been controversial. That controversy gave rise to a prolific debate on the origin of the surface colors of these distant icy objects of the Solar System. Two different views attempt to interpret and explain the large variability of colors, hence surface composition. Are the colors mainly primordial and directly related to the formation region, or are they the result of surface evolution processes? To date, no mechanism has been found that successfully explains why Centaurs, which are escapees from the Kuiper Belt, exhibit two distinct color groups, whereas KBOs do not. In this letter, we readdress this issue using a carefully compiled set of B-R colors and H({\alpha}) magnitudes (as proxy for size) for 253 objects, including data for 10 new small objects. We find that the bimodal behavior seen among Centaurs is a size related phenomenon, common to both Centaurs and small KBOs, i.e. independent of dynamical classification. Further, we find that large KBOs also exhibit a bimodal behavior of surface colors, albeit distinct from the small objects and strongly dependent on the `Haumea collisional family' objects. When plotted in B-R, H({\alpha}) space, the colors of Centaurs and KBOs display a peculiar N shape., Comment: To appear in Astronomy & Astrophysics. 12 pages (including 6 pages of appendix), 2 figures, 3 tables

The Haumea family is currently the only identified collisional family in the Kuiper belt. We numerically simulate the long-term dynamical evolution of the family to estimate a lower limit of the family's age and to assess how the population of the family and its dynamical clustering are preserved over Gyr timescales. We find that the family is not younger than 100 Myr, and its age is at least 1 Gyr with 95% confidence. We find that for initial velocity dispersions of 50-400 m/s, approximately 20-45% of the family members are lost to close encounters with Neptune after 3.5 Gyr of orbital evolution. We apply these loss rates to two proposed models for the formation of the Haumea family, a graze-and-merge type collision between two similarly sized, differentiated KBOs or the collisional disruption of a satellite orbiting Haumea. For the graze-and-merge collision model, we calculate that >85% of the expected mass in surviving family members within 150 m/s of the collision has been identified, but that one to two times the mass of the known family members remains to be identified at larger velocities. For the satellite-break-up model, we estimate that the currently identified family members account for ~50% of the expected mass of the family. Taking observational incompleteness into account, the observed number of Haumea family members is consistent with either formation scenario at the 1 sigma level, however both models predict more objects at larger relative velocities (>150 m/s) than have been identified., 25 pages, accepted to Icarus

An inner main-belt asteroid, P/2010 A2, was discovered on January 6th, 2010. Based on its orbital elements, it is considered that the asteroid belongs to the Flora collisional family, where S-type asteroids are common, whilst showing a comet-like dust tail. Although analysis of images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and Rosetta spacecraft suggested that the dust tail resulted from a recent head-on collision between asteroids (Jewitt et al. 2010; Snodgrass et al. 2010), an alternative idea of ice sublimation was suggested based on the morphological fitting of ground-based images (Moreno et al. 2010). Here, we report a multiband observation of P/2010 A2 made on January 2010 with a 105 cm telescope at the Ishigakijima Astronomical Observatory. Three broadband filters, $g'$, $R_c$, and $I_c$, were employed for the observation. The unique multiband data reveals that the reflectance spectrum of the P/2010 A2 dust tail resembles that of an Sq-type asteroid or that of ordinary chondrites rather than that of an S-type asteroid. Due to the large error of the measurement, the reflectance spectrum also resembles the spectra of C-type asteroids, even though C-type asteroids are uncommon in the Flora family. The reflectances relative to the $g'$-band (470 nm) are 1.096$\pm$0.046 at the $R_c$-band (650 nm) and 1.131$\pm$0.061 at the $I_c$-band (800 nm). We hypothesize that the parent body of P/2010 A2 was originally S-type but was then shattered upon collision into scaterring fresh chondritic particles from the interior, thus forming the dust tail., 4 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in ApJL

We have computed proper elements for 12,573 asteroids, including all the ones with orbits accurate enough to be useful for family identification. This was done with an upgraded version of our iterative analytical algorithm, resulting in significantly improved accuracy for most asteroids in the low to moderate inclination and eccentricity region of the main belt (typical instability in the proper e and sin I being ≤0.0015 over 5 Myr). This stability has been verified by numerical integrations (within a realistic model) of 35 test cases. In a small percentage of cases, the accuracy of the proper elements computation was degraded by the effects of some resonance, either in mean motion or secular. We have been able to list the resonances responsible for this degradation in almost all the cases, in such a way that these are properly flagged with a "resonance code." This list of resonances, including nine high-degree secular resonances not known before our work, provides a detailed map of the dynamical structure of the asteroid main belt. We investigate the long-term dynamics of some of these secular resonances and find both very large amplitude oscillations of the eccentricity and irregular behavior for asteroids affected by one or more resonances. We show the geometry of these resonances in the proper elements space and their relationship with the asteroid distribution and with the most prominent families. In the second part of the paper, we give a detailed description of the improvements of this version of the proper elements theory with respect to the previously published ones (A. Milani and Z. Kneževic, 1990, Celest. Mech. 49, 347-411; 1992, Icarus 98, 211-232). We discuss the success of some of these improvements in cases which were previously of degraded accuracy, and we also comment on the failure of some attempted improvements. We conjecture that our theory is very close to the fundamental limitations to the accuracy of any analytical theory, which result from the fact that there is an infinite web of resonances and from the occurrence of chaotic motions. Thus we think that further improvements of this theory will only be of local nature and will affect only a fraction of the asteroid population.

The probability distribution for impact velocities between two given asteroids is wide, non-Gaussian, and often contains spikes according to our new method of analysis in which each possible orbital geometry for collision is weighted according to its probability. An average value would give a good representation only if the distribution were smooth and narrow. Therefore, the complete velocity distribution we obtain for various asteroid populations differs significantly from published histograms of average velocities. For all pairs among the 682 asteroids in the main-belt with D greater than 50 km, we find that our computed velocity distribution is much wider than previously computed histograms of average velocities. In this case, the most probable impact velocity is approximately 4.4 km/sec, compared with the mean impact velocity of 5.3 km/sec. For cases of a single asteroid (e.g., Gaspra or Ida) relative to an impacting population, the distribution we find yields lower velocities than previously reported by others. The width of these velocity distributions implies that mean impact velocities must be used with caution when calculating asteroid collisional lifetimes or crater-size distributions. Since the most probable impact velocities are lower than the mean, disruption events may occur less frequently than previously estimated. However, this disruption rate may be balanced somewhat by an apparent increase in the frequency of high-velocity impacts between asteroids. These results have implications for issues such as asteroidal disruption rates, the amount/type of impact ejecta available for meteoritical delivery to the Earth, and the geology and evolution of specific asteroids like Gaspra.

We present the visible spectrum of MBCs 133P/Elst-Pizarro and 176P/LINEAR, as well as three Themis family asteroids: (62) Erato, (379), Huenna and (383) Janina, obtained in 2007 using three telescopes at "El Roque de los Muchachos"' Observatory, in La Palma, Spain, and the 8m Kueyen (UT2) VLT telescope at Cerro Paranal, Chile. The spectra of 133P and 176P resemble best those of B-type asteroid and are very similar to those of Themis family members and are significantly different from the spectrum of comet 162P/Siding-Spring and most of the observed cometary nuclei. CN gas emission is not detected in the spectrum of 133P. We determine an upper limit for the CN production rate Q(CN) = $= 2.8 \times 10^{21}$ mol/s, three orders of magnitude lower than the Q(CN) of Jupiter family comets observed at similar heliocentric distances. The spectra of 133P/Elst-Pizarro and 176P/LINEAR confirm that they are likely members of the Themis family of asteroids, fragments that probably retained volatiles, and unlikely have a cometary origin in the trans-neptunian belt or the Oort cloud., Paper sumbmited to A&A. 7 pages and 6 figures

We present the preliminary analysis of 1023 known asteroids in the Hilda region of the Solar System observed by the NEOWISE component of the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). The sizes of the Hildas observed range from $\sim 3 - 200$km. We find no size - albedo dependency as reported by other projects. The albedos of our sample are low, with a weighted mean value $p_V = 0.055\pm0.018$, for all sizes sampled by the NEOWISE survey. We observed a significant fraction of the objects in the two known collisional families in the Hilda population. It is found that the Hilda collisional family is brighter, with weighted mean albedo of $p_V = 0.061\pm0.011$, than the general population and dominated by D-type asteroids, while the Schubart collisional family is darker, with weighted mean albedo of ($p_V = 0.039\pm0.013$). Using the reflected sunlight in the two shortest WISE bandpasses we are able to derive a method for taxonomic classification of $\sim 10%$ of the Hildas detected in the NEOWISE survey. For the Hildas with diameter larger than 30km there are $67^{+7}_{-15}%$ D-type asteroids and $26^{+17}_{-5}%$ C-/P-type asteroids (with the majority of these being P-types)., Comment: Accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journal. Electronic table to be published on the publishers website

The Kuiper belt is a collection of small bodies (Kuiper belt objects, KBOs) that lie beyond the orbit of Neptune and which are believed to have formed contemporaneously with the planets. Their small size and great distance make them difficult to study. KBO 55636 (2002 TX300) is a member of the water-ice-rich Haumea KBO collisional family. The Haumea family are among the most highly reflective objects in the Solar System. Dynamical calculations indicate that the collision that created KBO 55636 occurred at least 1 Gyr ago. Here we report observations of a multi-chord stellar occultation by KBO 55636, which occurred on 9 October 2009 ut. We find that it has a mean radius of 143 ± 5 km (assuming a circular solution). Allowing for possible elliptical shapes, we find a geometric albedo of 0.88 +0.15 -0.06 in the V photometric band, which establishes that KBO 55636 is smaller than previously thought and that, like its parent body, it is highly reflective. The dynamical age implies either that KBO 55636 has an active resurfacing mechanism, or that fresh water-ice in the outer Solar System can persist for gigayear timescales.