Seminario di Astrofisica lunedì 2 luglio, ore 14, presso il DIFI
Speaker:
Carmen Ayala (Observatório Nacional MCTIC, Rio de Janeiro)
Title:
Photometric Studies of Small Bodies of the Solar System: Absolute Colors
and Relative Phase Coefficients of trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs) and
centaurs.
Abstract :
In this seminar I will present results of our ground-based photometric
survey of trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) and centaurs, which is part of
the PhD project about Photometric Studies of Small Bodies of the Solar
System, TNOs are considered leftovers of the proto solar nebula, while
the Centaurs are a transient population of TNOs located between the
orbits of Jupiter and Neptune, thus their physical and dynamical
properties provide important information for the theories of Solar
System formation. Among the techniques used to study such objects,
photometry is the less expensive one (in terms of observing time).
Photometric studies allow to obtain information of physical properties
of TNOs via absolute magnitudes and colors.
Our goal was to construct phase curves in two filters, V and R, of
a large TNO sample: we obtained absolute magnitudes (H) and phase
coefficients (β), to study possible relations between them and other
physical parameters (orbital elements, sizes, and albedos).
We obtained absolute magnitudes, 114 in V filter and 113 in R filter.
From the latest, we get phase curves in both filters for 106 objects.
From the search for correlations we found a strong anti-correlation
between H V − H R and ∆ β = β V − β R , which is probably
related to the surface structure.