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Spots on asteroid surfaces: Research opportunities using ground-based instruments

  • Dynamics and Physics of Bodies of the Solar System
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Abstract

We discuss possible mechanisms for the formation of albedo spots on asteroids. We infer that the most likely mechanisms are impact cratering and related processes. This is confirmed by the reflectance spectra of the asteroids 10 Hygiea, 135 Hertha, and 196 Philomela, the results of a spectral frequency analysis of the sizes of features on the surface of 4 Vesta and 21 Lutetia, and the estimates for the parameters of impact features.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sternberg Astronomical Institute (SAI), Moscow State University, Moscow, 119992, Russia

    V. V. Busarev

  2. Crimean Astrophysical Observatory, Nauchnyi, Bakhchisaraiskii raion, 98409, Crimea, Ukraine

    V. V. Prokof’eva-Mikhailovskaya, A. N. Rublevskii & N. N. Gor’kavyi

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  1. V. V. Busarev
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  2. V. V. Prokof’eva-Mikhailovskaya
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  3. A. N. Rublevskii
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  4. N. N. Gor’kavyi
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Correspondence to V. V. Busarev.

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Original Russian Text © V.V. Busarev, V.V. Prokof’eva-Mikhailovskaya, A.N. Rublevskii, N.N. Gor’kavyi, 2012, published in Kinematika i Fizika Nebesnykh Tel, 2012, Vol. 28, No. 1, pp. 3–15.

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Busarev, V.V., Prokof’eva-Mikhailovskaya, V.V., Rublevskii, A.N. et al. Spots on asteroid surfaces: Research opportunities using ground-based instruments. Kinemat. Phys. Celest. Bodies 28, 1–8 (2012). https://doi.org/10.3103/S0884591312010059

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