Properties of the Near-Earth object population: the ACM 2005 view

Within the near-Earth object population, one finds asteroids, comets, and meteorites thereby placing the NEO population at the center of the ACM conference. The longstanding gulf between the spectral properties of S-type asteroids and ordinary chondrite meteorites appears to be bridged, where the observational data are consistent with a space weathering type process. As much as 30% of the entire NEO population may reside in orbits having a Jovian Tisserand parameter <30, and among these roughly half are observed to have comet-like physical properties in terms of their albedos and spectra (taxonomy). Thus 15±5% of the entire NEO population may be comprised by extinct or dormant comets.