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A Review of Spectrophotometric Studies of Asteroids*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2016

Clark R. Chapman ,
Torrence V. Johnson  and
Thomas B. McCord
Clark R. Chapman
Affiliation:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Torrence V. Johnson
Affiliation:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Thomas B. McCord
Affiliation:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Extract

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It has long been realized that studies of the colors of asteroids provide useful clues to their composition. However, only since the development of photoelectric photometry have measurements of asteroid colors proven to be reliable. Recently, with advances in sensors and data systems, it has become possible to measure precisely the spectral reflectivity curves of asteroids from 0.3 to 1.1 µm with higher spectral resolution than that of the UBV system.

Until recently, attempts to determine asteroid composition by comparing color indices for asteroids with spectral reflectivities or color indices for meteorites and terrestrial rocks have not been fruitful (Kitamura, 1959; Watson, 1938). It has been noted that the mean color indices for asteroids fall within the range for rocks and meteorites. However, there are far too many minerals for a one-dimensional characterization of asteroid color (color index) to suggest even a compositional class, let alone a specific composition. But when the full spectral reflectivity curve is well defined, for instance in the 24 narrowband interference filters we have been using, the measurements are considerably more diagnostic.

Type
Part I-Observations
Information
International Astronomical Union Colloquium , Volume 12: Physical Studies of Minor Planets , 1971 , pp. 51 - 65
Copyright
Copyright © NASA 1971

Footnotes

*

Contribution No. 30 of the Planetary Astronomy Laboratory, Dept. of Earth and Planetary Sciences, MIT. A more complete treatment of this subject is found in Chapman (1971).

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