Constraining the Main Belt Binary Asteroid Population Using Doublet Craters on Ceres

Doublet craters are two impact craters created by the same primary impact event [Oberbeck and Aoyagi, 1972, JGR 77], and are believed to be caused by well-separated binary asteroids [Bottke and Melosh, 1996, Icarus 124]. We report on our efforts to estimate the percentage of impact craters on the dwarf planet Ceres that are doublet craters, and to assess their implications for bounding the percentage of Main Belt asteroids that are binaries. Using an approach inspired by Melosh, Ingram, and Bottke [1996, LPS XXVII Abstract #1432], we identified all craters 3km or larger in our initial study region on Ceres using Framing Camera images from the Dawn spacecraft. All pairs of craters with separations less than 20km were evaluated as potential doublets, using criteria such as similar age, and the presence of a septum and/or ejecta lobes. Out of 172 unique pairs, four were initially identified as "possible" or "likely" doublets. Comparing the distribution of observed crater pair separations < 20km against separations of simulated impact locations generated by a Monte Carlo simulation showed non-random excesses at separation distances consistent with our four possible doublets. Further analysis of crater rims using form and circularity ratios [Selkirk 1982, Pattern and Place, Cambridge] eliminated three of the candidate pairs since they are likely secondary impact craters. If the one remaining possible doublet pair is treated as a true doublet, it would indicate a lower bound of 1.3% for impact events that are doublets in the initial study region. This is lower than the 2-3% seen for Earth and Mars [Miljković et al., 2013, Earth Planet Sc Lett, 363]. The present work is applying the same approach to another roughly 28,000 square kilometer region to increase our sample size, and to consider any constrasts in the nature of impact features on a different part of Ceres.