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Simon F. Green

Publications and source records attributed to Simon F. Green.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

VLT/MUSE Characterisation of Dimorphos Ejecta from the DART Impact

We have observed the Didymos-Dimorphos binary system with the MUSE integral field unit spectrograph mounted at the Very Large Telescope (VLT) pre and post-DART impact, and captured the ensuing ejecta cone, debris cloud, and tails at sub-arcsecond resolutions. We targeted the Didymos system over 11 nights from 26 September to 25 October 2022, and utilized both narrow and wide-field observations with and without adaptive optics, respectively. We took advantage of the spectral-spatial coupled measurements and produced both white-light images and spectral maps of the dust reflectance. We identified and characterized numerous dust features, such as the ejecta cone, spirals, wings, clumps, and tails. We found that the base of the Sunward edge of the wings, from 03 to 19 October, consistent with maximum grain sizes on the order of 0.05-0.2 mm, and that the earliest detected clumps have the highest velocities on the order of 10 m/s. We also see that three clumps in narrow-field mode (8x8'') exhibit redder colors and slower speeds, around 0.09 m/s, than the surrounding ejecta, likely indicating that the clump is comprised of larger, slower grains. We measured the properties of the primary tail, and resolved and measured the properties of the secondary tail earlier than any other published study, with first retrieval on 03 October. Both tails exhibit similarities in curvature and relative flux, however, the secondary tail appears thinner, which may be caused by lower energy ejecta and possibly a low energy formation mechanism such as secondary impacts.

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Characterizing the nucleus of comet 162P/Siding Spring using ground-based photometry

Comet 162P/Siding Spring is a large Jupiter-family comet with extensive archival lightcurve data. We report new r-band nucleus lightcurves for this comet, acquired in 2018, 2021 and 2022. With the addition of these lightcurves, the phase angles at which the nucleus has been observed range from $0.39^\circ$ to $16.33^\circ$. We absolutely-calibrate the comet lightcurves to r-band Pan-STARRS 1 magnitudes, and use these lightcurves to create a convex shape model of the nucleus by convex lightcurve inversion. The best-fitting shape model for 162P has axis ratios $a/b = 1.56$ and $b/c = 2.33$, sidereal period $P = 32.864\pm0.001$ h, and a rotation pole oriented towards ecliptic longitude $λ_E = 118^\circ \pm 26^\circ$ and latitude $β_E=-50^\circ\pm21^\circ$. We constrain the possible nucleus elongation to lie within $1.4 < a/b < 2.0$ and discuss tentative evidence that 162P may have a bilobed structure. Using the shape model to correct the lightcurves for rotational effects, we derive a linear phase function with slope $β=0.051\pm0.002$ mag deg$^{-1}$ and intercept $H_r(1,1,0) = 13.86 \pm 0.02$ for 162P. We find no evidence that the nucleus exhibited an opposition surge at phase angles down to 0.39$^\circ$. The challenges associated with modelling the shapes of comet nuclei from lightcurves are highlighted, and we comment on the extent to which we anticipate that LSST will alleviate these challenges in the coming decade.

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Physical properties of near-Earth asteroid (2102) Tantalus from multi-wavelength observations

Between 2010 and 2017 we have collected new optical and radar observations of the potentially hazardous asteroid (2102)~Tantalus from the ESO NTT and Danish telescopes at the La Silla Observatory and from the Arecibo planetary radar. The object appears to be nearly spherical, showing a low amplitude light-curve variation and limited large-scale features in the radar images. The spin-state is difficult to constrain with the available data; including a certain light-curve subset significantly changes the spin-state estimates, and the uncertainties on period determination are significant. Constraining any change in rotation rate was not possible, despite decades of observations. The convex lightcurve-inversion model, with rotational pole at $λ=210{\pm}41$° and $β=-30{\pm}35$°, is more flattened than the two models reconstructed by including radar observations: with prograde ($λ=36{\pm}23$°, $β=30{\pm}15$°), and with retrograde rotation mode ($λ=180{\pm}24$°, $β=-30{\pm}16$°). Using data from WISE we were able to determine that the prograde model produces the best agreement in size determination between radar and thermophysical modelling. Radar measurements indicate possible variation in surface properties, suggesting one side might have lower radar albedo and be rougher at centimetre-to-decimetre scale than the other. However, further observations are needed to confirm this. Thermophysical analysis indicates a surface covered in fine-grained regolith, consistent with radar albedo and polarisation ratio measurements. Finally, geophysical investigation of the spin-stability of Tantalus shows that it could be exceeding its critical spin-rate via cohesive forces.

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The Effect of Aspect Changes on Near-Earth Asteroid Phase Curves

Phase curves of asteroids are typically considered to depend solely on the scattering properties of airless particulate surfaces and the size of the object being studied. In this study, we demonstrate the additional dependence of phase curves on object shape, rotation pole orientation, and viewing geometry over an apparition. Variations in the phase curve of near-Earth asteroid (159402) 1999 AP10 over its apparition from July 2020 - January 2021 are verified to be due to aspect changes over the apparition. This is achieved through shape modelling of the asteroid and simulation of the phase curve over the apparition. We present simulations of asteroid phase curves over a range of geometries to understand the potential magnitude of this aspect effect, and under which circumstances it can begin to dominate in the phase curves. This dependence on aspect may introduce significant additional uncertainty in the properties derived from phase curve data. We provide and demonstrate software code to estimate the aspect-related uncertainty in near-Earth asteroid phase curves through simulation and model fitting of a randomly generated sample of ellipsoidal asteroid models over the observed viewing geometry. We demonstrate how ignoring this effect may lead to misleading interpretations of the data and underestimation of uncertainties in further studies, such as those in the infrared that use phase curve derived parameters when fitting physical properties of an asteroid.

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Asteroid Photometry with PIRATE: Optimizations and Techniques for Small Aperture Telescopes

Small aperture telescopes provide the opportunity to conduct high frequency, targeted observations of near-Earth Asteroids that are not feasible with larger facilities due to highly competitive time allocation requirements. Observations of asteroids with these types of facilities often focus on rotational brightness variations rather than longer-term phase angle dependent variations (phase curves) due to the difficulty of achieving high precision photometric calibration. We have developed an automated asteroid light curve extraction and calibration pipeline for images of moving objects from the 0.43 m Physics Innovations Robotic Telescope Explorer (PIRATE). This allows for the frequency and quality of observations required to construct asteroid phase curves. Optimisations in standard data reduction procedures are identified that may allow for similar small aperture facilities, constructed from commercially available/off-the-shelf components, to improve image and subsequent data quality. A demonstration of the hardware and software capabilities is expressed through observation statistics from a 10 month observing campaign, and through the photometric characterisation of near-Earth Asteroids 8014 (1990 MF) and 19764 (2000 NF5).

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(6478) Gault: Physical characterization of an active main-belt asteroid

In December 2018, the main-belt asteroid (6478)~Gault was reported to display activity. Gault is an asteroid belonging to the Phocaea dynamical family and was not previously known to be active, nor was any other member of the Phocaea family. In this work we present the results of photometric and spectroscopic observations that commenced soon after the discovery of activity. We obtained observations over two apparitions to monitor its activity, rotation period, composition, and possible non-gravitational orbital evolution. We find that Gault has a rotation period of $P = 2.4929 \pm 0.0003$ hours with a lightcurve amplitude of $0.06$ magnitude. This short rotation period close to the spin barrier limit is consistent with Gault having a density no smaller than $ρ= 1.85$~g/cm$^3$ and its activity being triggered by the YORP spin-up mechanism. Analysis of the Gault phase curve over phase angles ranging from $0.4^{\circ}$ to $23.6^{\circ}$ provides an absolute magnitude of $H = 14.81 \pm 0.04$, $G1=0.25 \pm 0.07$, and $G2= 0.38 \pm 0.04$. Model fits to the phase curve find the surface regolith grain size constrained between 100-500 $\rmμ$m. Using relations between the phase curve and albedo we determine that the geometrical albedo of Gault is $p_{\rm v} = 0.26 \pm 0.05$ corresponding to an equivalent diameter of $D = 2.8^{+0.4}_{-0.2}$ km. Our spectroscopic observations are all consistent with an ordinary chondrite-like composition (S, or Q-type in the Bus-DeMeo taxonomic classification). A search through archival photographic plate surveys found previously unidentified detections of Gault dating back to 1957 and 1958. Only the latter had been digitized, which we measured to nearly double the observation arc of Gault. Finally, we did not find any signal of activity during the 2020 apparition or non-gravitational effects on its orbit.

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Seeing the Bigger Picture: The Rosetta Mission Amateur Observing Campaign and Lessons for the Future

Amateur astronomers can make useful contributions to the study of comets. They add temporal coverage and multi-scale observations which can aid the study of fast-changing, and large-scale comet features. We document and review the amateur observing campaign set up to complement the Rosetta space mission, including the data submitted to date, and consider the campaign's effectiveness in the light of experience from previous comet amateur campaigns. We report the results of surveys of campaign participants, the amateur astronomy community, and schools who participated in a comet 46P observing campaign. We draw lessons for future campaigns which include the need for: clarity of objectives; recognising the wider impact campaigns can have on increasing science capital; clear, consistent, timely and tailored guidance; easy upload procedures with in-built quality control; and, regular communication, feedback and recognition.

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ASIME 2018 White Paper. In-Space Utilisation of Asteroids: Asteroid Composition -- Answers to Questions from the Asteroid Miners

In keeping with the Luxembourg government's initiative to support the future use of space resources, ASIME 2018 was held in Belval, Luxembourg on April 16-17, 2018. The goal of ASIME 2018: Asteroid Intersections with Mine Engineering, was to focus on asteroid composition for advancing the asteroid in-space resource utilisation domain. What do we know about asteroid composition from remote-sensing observations? What are the potential caveats in the interpretation of Earth-based spectral observations? What are the next steps to improve our knowledge on asteroid composition by means of ground-based and space-based observations and asteroid rendez-vous and sample return missions? How can asteroid mining companies use this knowledge? ASIME 2018 was a two-day workshop of almost 70 scientists and engineers in the context of the engineering needs of space missions with in-space asteroid utilisation. The 21 Questions from the asteroid mining companies were sorted into the four asteroid science themes: 1) Potential Targets, 2) Asteroid-Meteorite Links, 3) In-Situ Measurements and 4) Laboratory Measurements. The Answers to those Questions were provided by the scientists with their conference presentations and collected by A. Graps or edited directly into an open-access collaborative Google document or inserted by A. Graps using additional reference materials. During the ASIME 2018, first day and second day Wrap-Ups, the answers to the questions were discussed further. New readers to the asteroid mining topic may find the Conversation boxes and the Mission Design discussions especially interesting.

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Implications of the Small Spin Changes Measured for Large Jupiter-Family Comet Nuclei

Rotational spin-up due to outgassing of comet nuclei has been identified as a possible mechanism for considerable mass-loss and splitting. We report a search for spin changes for three large Jupiter-family comets (JFCs): 14P/Wolf, 143P/Kowal-Mrkos, and 162P/Siding Spring. None of the three comets has detectable period changes, and we set conservative upper limits of 4.2 (14P), 6.6 (143P) and 25 (162P) minutes per orbit. Comparing these results with all eight other JFCs with measured rotational changes, we deduce that none of the observed large JFCs experiences significant spin changes. This suggests that large comet nuclei are less likely to undergo rotationally-driven splitting, and therefore more likely to survive more perihelion passages than smaller nuclei. We find supporting evidence for this hypothesis in the cumulative size distributions of JFCs and dormant comets, as well as in recent numerical studies of cometary orbital dynamics. We added 143P to the sample of 13 other JFCs with known albedos and phase-function slopes. This sample shows a possible correlation of increasing phase-function slopes for larger geometric albedos. Partly based on findings from recent space missions to JFCs, we hypothesise that this correlation corresponds to an evolutionary trend for JFCs. We propose that newly activated JFCs have larger albedos and steeper phase functions, which gradually decrease due to sublimation-driven erosion. If confirmed, this could be used to analyse surface erosion from ground and to distinguish between dormant comets and asteroids.

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The Cosmic Dust Analyzer onboard Cassini: ten years of discoveries

The interplanetary space probe Cassini/Huygens reached Saturn in July 2004 after seven years of cruise phase. The Cosmic Dust Analyzer (CDA) measures the interplanetary, interstellar and planetary dust in our solar system since 1999 and provided unique discoveries. In 1999, CDA detected interstellar dust in the inner solar system followed by the detection of electrical charges of interplanetary dust grains during the cruise phase between Earth and Jupiter. The instrument determined the composition of interplanetary dust and the nanometre sized dust streams originating from Jupiter's moon Io. During the approach to Saturn in 2004, similar streams of submicron grains with speeds in the order of 100 km/s were detected from Saturn's inner and outer ring system and are released to the interplanetary magnetic field. Since 2004 CDA measured more than one million dust impacts characterizing the dust environment of Saturn. The instrument is one of three experiments which discovered the active ice geysers located at the south pole of Saturn's moon Enceladus in 2005. Later, a detailed compositional analysis of the water ice grains in Saturn's E ring system lead to the discovery of large reservoirs of liquid water (oceans) below the icy crust of Enceladus. Finally, the determination of the dust- magnetosphere interaction and the discovery of the extended E ring (at least twice as large as predicted) allowed the definition of a dynamical dust model of Saturn's E ring describing the observed properties. This paper summarizes the discoveries of a ten year story of success based on reliable measurements with the most advanced dust detector flown in space until today. This paper focuses on cruise results and findings achieved at Saturn with a focus on flux and density measurements.

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Evidence for the formation of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko through gravitational collapse of a bound clump of pebbles

The processes that led to the formation of the planetary bodies in the Solar System are still not fully understood. Using the results obtained with the comprehensive suite of instruments on-board ESA's Rosetta mission, we present evidence that comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko likely formed through the gentle gravitational collapse of a bound clump of mm-sized dust aggregates ("pebbles"), intermixed with microscopic ice particles. This formation scenario leads to a cometary make-up that is simultaneously compatible with the global porosity, homogeneity, tensile strength, thermal inertia, vertical temperature profiles, sizes and porosities of emitted dust, and the steep increase in water-vapour production rate with decreasing heliocentric distance, measured by the instruments on-board the Rosetta spacecraft and the Philae lander. Our findings suggest that the pebbles observed to be abundant in protoplanetary discs around young stars provide the building material for comets and other minor bodies.

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ASIME 2016 White Paper: In-Space Utilisation of Asteroids: "Answers to Questions from the Asteroid Miners"

The aim of the Asteroid Science Intersections with In-Space Mine Engineering (ASIME) 2016 conference on September 21-22, 2016 in Luxembourg City was to provide an environment for the detailed discussion of the specific properties of asteroids, with the engineering needs of space missions that utilize asteroids. The ASIME 2016 Conference produced a layered record of discussions from the asteroid scientists and the asteroid miners to understand each other's key concerns and to address key scientific questions from the asteroid mining companies: Planetary Resources, Deep Space Industries and TransAstra. These Questions were the focus of the two day conference, were addressed by scientists inside and outside of the ASIME Conference and are the focus of this White Paper. The Questions from the asteroid mining companies have been sorted into the three asteroid science themes: 1) survey, 2) surface and 3) subsurface and 4) Other. The answers to those Questions have been provided by the scientists with their conference presentations or edited directly into an early open-access collaborative Google document (August 2016-October 2016), or inserted by A. Graps using additional reference materials. During the ASIME 2016 last two-hours, the scientists turned the Questions from the Asteroid Miners around by presenting their own key concerns: Questions from the Asteroid Scientists . These answers in this White Paper will point to the Science Knowledge Gaps (SKGs) for advancing the asteroid in-space resource utilisation domain.

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Physical characterisation of near-Earth asteroid (1620) Geographos. Reconciling radar and thermal-infrared observations

The Yarkovsky (orbital drift) and YORP (spin state change) effects play important roles in the dynamical and physical evolution of asteroids. Thermophysical modelling of these observed effects, and of thermal-infrared observations, allows a detailed physical characterisation of an individual asteroid to be performed. We perform a detailed physical characterisation of near-Earth asteroid (1620) Geographos, a potential meteor stream source and former spacecraft target, using the same techniques as previously used in Rozitis et al. (2013) for (1862) Apollo. We use the advanced thermophysical model (ATPM) on published light-curve, radar, and thermal-infrared observations to constrain the thermophysical properties of Geographos. The derived properties are used to make detailed predictions of the Yarkovsky orbital drift and YORP rotational acceleration, which are then compared against published measurements to determine Geographos's bulk density. We find that Geographos has a thermal inertia of 340 +140/-100 J m-2 K-1 s-1/2, a roughness fraction of >50%, and a bulk density of 2100 +550/-450 kg m-3 when using the light-curve-derived shape model with the radar-derived maximum equatorial diameter of 5.04 +/- 0.07 km. It is also found that the radar observations had overestimated the z-axis in Geographos's shape model because of their near-equatorial view. This results in a poor fit to the thermal-infrared observations if its effective diameter is kept fixed in the model fitting. The thermal inertia derived for Geographos is slightly higher than the typical values for a near-Earth asteroid of its size, and its derived bulk density suggests a rubble-pile interior structure. Large uncertainties in shape model z-axes are likely to explain why radar and thermal-infrared observations sometimes give inconsistent diameter determinations for other asteroids.

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Numerical simulations of granular dynamics II. Particle dynamics in a shaken granular material

Surfaces of planets and small bodies of our Solar System are often covered by a layer of granular material that can range from a fine regolith to a gravel-like structure of varying depths. Therefore, the dynamics of granular materials are involved in many events occurring during planetary and small-body evolution thus contributing to their geological properties. We demonstrate that the new adaptation of the parallel N-body hard-sphere code pkdgrav has the capability to model accurately the key features of the collective motion of bidisperse granular materials in a dense regime as a result of shaking. As a stringent test of the numerical code we investigate the complex collective ordering and motion of granular material by direct comparison with laboratory experiments. We demonstrate that, as experimentally observed, the scale of the collective motion increases with increasing small-particle additive concentration. We then extend our investigations to assess how self-gravity and external gravity affect collective motion. In our reduced-gravity simulations both the gravitational conditions and the frequency of the vibrations roughly match the conditions on asteroids subjected to seismic shaking, though real regolith is likely to be much more heterogeneous and less ordered than in our idealised simulations. We also show that collective motion can occur in a granular material under a wide range of inter-particle gravity conditions and in the absence of an external gravitational field. These investigations demonstrate the great interest of being able to simulate conditions that are to relevant planetary science yet unreachable by Earth-based laboratory experiments.

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A thermophysical analysis of the (1862) Apollo Yarkovsky and YORP effects

Near-Earth asteroid (1862) Apollo has strong detections of both orbital semimajor axis drift and rotational acceleration. We produce a unified model that can accurately match both observed effects using a single set of thermophysical properties derived from ground-based observations, and we determine Apollo's long term evolution. We use light-curve shape inversion techniques and the ATPM on published light-curve, thermal-infrared, and radar observations to constrain Apollo's thermophysical properties. The derived properties are used to make detailed predictions of Apollo's Yarkovsky and YORP effects, which are then compared with published measurements of orbital drift and rotational acceleration. The ATPM explicitly incorporates 1D heat conduction, shadowing, multiple scattering of sunlight, global self-heating, and rough surface thermal-infrared beaming in the model predictions. We find that ATPM can accurately reproduce the light-curve, thermal-infrared, and radar observations of Apollo, and simultaneously match the observed orbital drift and rotational acceleration using: a shape model with axis ratios of 1.94:1.65:1.00, an effective diameter of 1.55 +/- 0.07 km, a geometric albedo of 0.20 +/- 0.02, a thermal inertia of 140 +140/-100 J m-2 K-1 s-1/2, a highly rough surface, and a bulk density of 2850 +480/-680 kg m-3. Using these properties we predict that Apollo's obliquity is increasing towards the 180 degree YORP asymptotic state at a rate of 1.5 +0.3/-0.5 degrees per 10^5 yr. The derived thermal inertia suggests that Apollo has loose regolith material resting on its surface, which is consistent with Apollo undergoing a recent resurfacing event based on its observed Q-type spectrum. The inferred bulk density is consistent with those determined for other S-type asteroids, and suggests that Apollo has a fractured interior.

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The Influence of Global Self-Heating on the Yarkovsky and YORP Effects

We present an adaptation of the ATPM to simultaneously predict the Yarkovsky and YORP effects in the presence of global self-heating that occurs within the large concavities of irregularly shaped asteroids, which has been neglected or dismissed in all previous models. It is also combined with rough surface thermal-infrared beaming effects, which have been previously shown to enhance the Yarkovsky-orbital-drift and dampen on average the YORP-rotational-acceleration by orders of several tens of per cent. Tests on all published concave shape models of near-Earth asteroids, and also on one hundred Gaussian-random-spheres, show that the Yarkovsky effect is sensitive to shadowing and global self-heating effects at the few per cent level or less. For simplicity, Yarkovsky models can neglect these effects if the level of accuracy desired is of this order. Unlike the Yarkovsky effect, the YORP effect can be very sensitive to shadowing and global self-heating effects. Its sensitivity increases with decreasing relative strength of the YORP-rotational-acceleration, and doesn't appear to depend greatly on the degree of asteroid concavity. Global self-heating tends to produce a vertical offset in an asteroid's YORP-rotational-acceleration versus obliquity curve which is in opposite direction to that produced by shadowing effects. It also ensures that at least one critical obliquity angle exists at which zero YORP-rotational-acceleration occurs. Global self-heating must be included for accurate predictions of the YORP effect if an asteroid exhibits a large shadowing effect. If global self-heating effects are not included then it is found in ~75 per cent of cases that better predictions are produced when shadowing is also not included. Furthermore, global self-heating has implications for reducing the sensitivity of the YORP effect predictions to detailed variations in an asteroid's shape model.

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The Strength and Detectability of the YORP Effect in Near-Earth Asteroids: A Statistical Approach

In addition to collisions and gravitational forces, it is now becoming widely acknowledged that photon recoil forces and torques from the asymmetric reflection and thermal re-radiation of sunlight are primary mechanisms that govern the rotational evolution of an asteroid. The Yarkovsky-O'Keefe-Radzievskii-Paddack (YORP) effect causes changes in the rotation rate and pole direction of an irregularly shaped asteroid. We present a simple Monte Carlo method to estimate the range of YORP-rotational-accelerations acting on a near-Earth asteroid (NEA) without knowledge of its detailed shape, and to estimate its detectability using light-curve observations. The method requires knowledge of an asteroid's orbital properties and size, and assumes that the future observational circumstances of an asteroid have already been thought through. It is verified by application to the observational circumstances of the seven YORP-investigated asteroids, and is then applied to 540 NEAs with NEOWISE and/or other diameter measurements, and to all NEAs using MPCORB absolute magnitudes. The YORP-detectability is found to be a strong function of the combined asteroid orbital and diameter properties, and is independent of the rotation period for NEAs that don't have very fast or slow rotation rates. The median and 1-sigma spread of YORP-rotational-acceleration expected to be acting on a particular NEA can be estimated from its semimajor axis, eccentricity, and diameter by using (eq. 1) and/or by using (eq. 2) if the diameter is instead estimated from the absolute magnitude by assuming a geometric albedo of 0.1. The length of a light-curve observational campaign required to achieve a 50 per cent probability of detecting the YORP effect in a particular NEA can be estimated by using (eq. 3) and/or by using (eq. 4) for an absolute-magnitude-estimated diameter.

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Directional Characteristics of Thermal-Infrared Beaming from Atmosphereless Planetary Surfaces - A New Thermophysical Model

We present a new rough-surface thermophysical model (Advanced Thermophysical Model or ATPM) that describes the observed directional thermal emission from any atmosphereless planetary surface. It explicitly incorporates partial shadowing, scattering of sunlight, selfheating and thermal-infrared beaming (re-radiation of absorbed sunlight back towards the Sun as a result of surface roughness). The model is verified by accurately reproducing ground-based directional thermal emission measurements of the lunar surface using surface properties that are consistent with the findings of the Apollo missions and roughness characterised by an RMS slope of ~32 degrees. By considering the wide range of potential asteroid surface properties, the model implies a beaming effect that cannot be described by a simple parameter or function. It is highly dependent on the illumination and viewing angles as well as surface thermal properties and is predominantly caused by macroscopic rather than microscopic roughness. Roughness alters the effective Bond albedo and thermal inertia of the surface as well as moving the mean emission away from the surface normal. For accurate determination of surface properties from thermal-infrared observations of unresolved bodies or resolved surface elements, roughness must be explicitly modelled, preferably aided with thermal measurements at different emission angles and wavelengths.

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