The interpretation of light curves of minor planets.
Abstract
The telescopic images of minor planets look like twinkling points. Their brightness varies due to their irregular shape and rotation. The brightness records may be processed in such a way that it makes it possible (under some a priori assumptions) to determine uniquely both the rotation parameters of an asteroid and its shape. Mathematically, the problem deals with the inversion of an integral transformation relative to the Gaussian spherical mapping. A numerical inversion algorithm is presented as well as some results of the shape reconstruction from the computer-generated light curves.
- Publication:
-
Pisma v Astronomicheskii Zhurnal
- Pub Date:
- September 1991
- Bibcode:
- 1991PAZh...17..850K
- Keywords:
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- Asteroids;
- Brightness Distribution;
- Light Curve;
- Computational Astrophysics;
- Integral Transformations;
- Astronomy