Disk-resolved photometric modeling and properties of asteroid (101955) Bennu

Golish, D. R.; DellaGiustina, D. N.; Li, J. -Y.; Clark, B. E.; Zou, X. -D.; Smith, P. H.; Rizos, J. L.; Hasselmann, P. H.; Bennett, C. A.; Fornasier, S.; Ballouz, R. -L.; Drouet d'Aubigny, C.; Rizk, B.; Daly, M. G.; Barnouin, O. S.; Philpott, L.; Al Asad, M. M.; Seabrook, J. A.; Johnson, C. L.; Lauretta, D. S.
Bibliographical reference

Icarus

Advertised on:
3
2021
Journal
Number of authors
20
IAC number of authors
1
Citations
22
Refereed citations
21
Description
OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security-Regolith Explorer) is a NASA mission to return a sample of asteroid (101955) Bennu. Photometric modeling of Bennu's surface is a key element of both sample site characterization and our broader scientific understanding of the asteroid. Bennu's heterogeneous surface presents substantial variation in reflectance and produces a scattered dataset that poses a challenge to photometric modeling. We show that the resolution of the shape model with which we calculate photometric angles strongly affects the accuracy of the analysis, as well as the efficacy of subsequent photometric corrections. We use global imaging data to fit empirical photometric models of the surface. These models represent the average behavior of Bennu's surface and can be used beyond this work to photometrically correct panchromatic and color basemaps of Bennu and perform albedo analyses of individual features on Bennu's surface. Bennu's global photometry reveals a moderate opposition effect and detectable phase reddening, both of which suggest a macroscopically rough surface, which is confirmed by centimeter-scale images of the asteroid.
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Minor Bodies of the Solar System
This project studies the physical and compositional properties of the so-called minor bodies of the Solar System, that includes asteroids, icy objects, and comets. Of special interest are the trans-neptunian objects (TNOs), including those considered the most distant objects detected so far (Extreme-TNOs or ETNOs); the comets and the comet-asteroid
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