Asteroid taxonomic signatures from photometric phase curves

2012/02/10 by Dagmara Oszkiewicz, Dagmara Anna Oszkiewicz, D. A. Oszkiewicz +14 · 59 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Environmental Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Asteroid #Asteroid belt #Astro and Planetary Science #Astronomy #Biological classification #Biology #Ecology #Evolutionary biology #Geology and Paleoclimatology Research #Isotope Analysis in Ecology #Physics #Taxonomy (biology) #astro-ph.EP

paper · pdf · doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2012.02.028

published in Icarus 219(1), 283-296 (Elsevier BV) · submitted to Icarus

arxiv created 2012/02/10 · openalex publication_date 2012/03/13 · arxiv updated 2015/06/04 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

We explore the correlation between an asteroid's taxonomy and photometric phase curve using the H, G12 photometric phase function, with the shape of the phase function described by the single parameter G12. We explore the usability of G12 in taxonomic classification for individual objects, asteroid families, and dynamical groups. We conclude that the mean values of G12 for the considered taxonomic complexes are statistically different, and also discuss the overall shape of the G12 distribution for each taxonomic complex. Based on the values of G12 for about half a million asteroids, we compute the probabilities of C, S, and X complex membership for each asteroid. For an individual asteroid, these probabilities are rather evenly distributed over all of the complexes, thus preventing meaningful classification. We then present and discuss the G12 distributions for asteroid families, and predict the taxonomic complex preponderance for asteroid families given the distribution of G12 in each family. For certain asteroid families, the probabilistic prediction of taxonomic complex preponderance can clearly be made. The Nysa-Polana family shows two distinct regions in the proper element space with different G12 values dominating in each region. We conclude that the G12-based probabilistic distribution of taxonomic complexes through the main belt agrees with the general view of C complex asteroid proportion increasing towards the outer belt. We conclude that the G12 photometric parameter cannot be used in determining taxonomic complex for individual asteroids, but it can be utilized in the statistical treatment of asteroid families and different regions of the main asteroid belt.

Citations

• An extension of the Bus asteroid taxonomy into the near-infrared

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