Physical Parameters of Asteroids Estimated from the WISE 3-Band Data and NEOWISE Post-Cryogenic Survey
Abstract
Enhancements to the science data processing pipeline of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission, collectively known as NEOWISE, resulted in the detection of >158,000 minor planets in four infrared wavelengths during the fully cryogenic portion of the mission. Following the depletion of its cryogen, NASA's Planetary Science Directorate funded a four-month extension to complete the survey of the inner edge of the Main Asteroid Belt and to detect and discover near-Earth objects (NEOs). This extended survey phase, known as the NEOWISE Post-Cryogenic Survey, resulted in the detection of ~6500 large Main Belt asteroids and 86 NEOs in its 3.4 and 4.6 μm channels. During the Post-Cryogenic Survey, NEOWISE discovered and detected a number of asteroids co-orbital with the Earth and Mars, including the first known Earth Trojan. We present preliminary thermal fits for these and other NEOs detected during the 3-Band Cryogenic and Post-Cryogenic Surveys.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- November 2012
- DOI:
- 10.1088/2041-8205/760/1/L12
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1210.0502
- Bibcode:
- 2012ApJ...760L..12M
- Keywords:
-
- atlases;
- catalogs;
- minor planets;
- asteroids: general;
- surveys;
- Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- ApJL accepted