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arXiv · 2503.05433

Infrared Fluxes and Light Curves of Near-Earth Objects: The full Spitzer Sample

Joseph L. Hora·Alicia J. Allen·David E. Trilling·Howard A. Smith·Andrew McNeill
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Abstract

The IRAC camera on the Spitzer Space Telescope observed 2175 Near Earth Objects (NEOs) during its Warm Mission phase, primarily in three large surveys, and also in a small number of a dedicated projects. In this paper we present the final reprocessing of the NEO data and determine fluxes at 3.6 microns (where available) and 4.5 microns. The observing windows range from minutes to nearly ten hours, which means that for 39 NEOs we observe a complete lightcurve, and for these objects we present period and amplitude estimates and derive minimum cohesive strengths for the objects with well-determined periods. For an additional 128 objects we detect a significant fraction of a complete lightcurve, and present estimated lower limits to their rotation periods. This paper presents the final and definitive Spitzer/IRAC NEO flux catalog.

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Joseph L. Hora, Alicia J. Allen, David E. Trilling, Howard A. Smith, Andrew McNeill. 2025-03-07. Infrared Fluxes and Light Curves of Near-Earth Objects: The full Spitzer Sample. https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.05433

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