Trojan asteroid spectroscopy and space weathering

Trojan asteroids orbit the Sun at Jupiter's L4 and L5 stability points. They are included in the D-class group of asteroids because of their characteristically steep spectral slope. In accordance with spectra of other asteroid classes, we expected that the larger the diameter is of a D-class asteroid, the redder (visually) the asteroid should be in the visible spectrum. Approximately ninety Trojan asteroids have been examined, fourteen of which come from our own observations, and five of which are small and come from the SMASS I data set. The results did not confirm our original hypothesis. Instead, space weathering appears to affect Trojans in a different way than it does other asteroid classes due to their different composition.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2004

Author dc:creator

• Russell, April A. (April Anne), 1981-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Richard P. Binzel.

• Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/28614

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/28614