Visible Wavelength Reflectance Spectra of Near-Earth Objects from Apache Point Observatory: Science Highlights
Abstract
In January 2015 we began a program of near-Earth object (NEO) astrometric follow-up and physical characterization using a 17% share of time on the Astrophysical Research Consortium (ARC) 3.5-meter telescope at Apache Point Observatory (APO). Our roughly 500 hours of annual observing time are split into 2 hour runs usually in the middle of every other night (see poster by K. Nault et al.), and frequent half-night runs devoted to physical characterization (this poster). NEO surface compositions are investigated with 0.36-1.0 μm reflectance spectroscopy using the Dual Imaging Spectrograph instrument. As of June 22, 2016 we have obtained reflectance spectra of 129 unique NEOs, ranging in diameter from approximately 5 m to 6 km.Highlights of this work presented here include 106 spectra of (357439) 2004 BL86 spanning 3 hours 4.5 minutes, more than a full rotation, and spectra of 18 objects with diameters comparable to historical Earth impactors (e.g., Tunguska, Chelyabinsk and smaller bolides).This work is based on observations obtained with the APO 3.5-meter telescope, which is owned and operated by ARC. We gratefully acknowledge support from NASA NEOO award NNX14AL17G, and thank the University of Chicago Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics for observing time in 2014.
- Publication:
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AAS/Division for Planetary Sciences Meeting Abstracts #48
- Pub Date:
- October 2016
- Bibcode:
- 2016DPS....4832512H