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image/svg+xml Jakob Voss, based on art designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina and Beao Closed Access logo, derived from PLoS Open Access logo. This version with transparent background. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Closed_Access_logo_transparent.svg Jakob Voss, based on art designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina and Beao Planetary and Space ...arrow_drop_down
image/svg+xml Jakob Voss, based on art designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina and Beao Closed Access logo, derived from PLoS Open Access logo. This version with transparent background. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Closed_Access_logo_transparent.svg Jakob Voss, based on art designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina and Beao
Planetary and Space Science
Article . 2007 . Peer-reviewed
License: Elsevier TDM
Data sources: Crossref
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Subaru Main Belt Asteroid Survey (SMBAS)—Size and color distributions of small main-belt asteroids

Authors: F. Yoshida; T. Nakamura;

Subaru Main Belt Asteroid Survey (SMBAS)—Size and color distributions of small main-belt asteroids

Abstract

Abstract Since February, 2001, we have been conducting a series of survey observations to investigate the physical property of very small Main Belt Asteroids (sub-km MBAs) using the Subaru prime-focus camera (Suprime-Cam) attached to the 8.2 m Subaru telescope. We call our surveys “SMBAS: Subaru Main-Belt Asteroids Survey”. This paper presents the results of the second SMBAS (SMBAS-II) which was performed in October 2001. In SMBAS-II, a ∼ 4.0 deg 2 sky area near the opposition and near the ecliptic was surveyed with the R- and B-bands. We detected 1838 moving objects up to R ∼ 25 mag . In SMBAS-II, we could not determine the exact orbits of the objects, because of the short observational arc of only ∼ 40 min . Instead, we statistically estimated the semi-major axis (a) of each moving object from its apparent sky-motion vector assuming its circular orbit and then, we used the a's to select MBAs and to estimate their absolute magnitudes (H). The limiting magnitude of SMBAS-II for MBAs was R ∼ 24.2 mag. It corresponds to H ∼ 20 mag at the outer edge of main belt. Thus, assuming their mean albedos, down to D ∼ 0.3 km of S-type asteroids and 0.6 km of C-type asteroids were detected in SMBAS-II. We found that the slopes (b) of the cumulative size distribution (CSD) (i.e. N ( > D ) ∝ D - b , D: diameter) for sub-km MBAs ranging from 0.6 to 1 km in diameter is 1.29 ± 0.02 . Our b value (1.29) is much shallower than those ( ∼ 1.8) of the Palomer Leiden Survey (PLS) [van Houten, C.J., van Houten, G.I., Herget, P., Gehrels, T., 1970. The Palomar-Leiden survey of faint minor planets. Astr. Astrophys. Suppl. 2, 339–448] and Spacewatch surveys [Jedicke, R., Metcalfe, T.S., 1998. The orbital and absolute magnitude distributions of main belt asteroids. Icarus 131, 245–260.] for larger asteroids ( D > 5 km) and almost consistent with that (1.3) of SDSS [Ivezic, Ž., Tabachnik, S., Rafikov, R., Lupton, R.H., Quinn, T., Hammergren, M., Eyer, L., Chu, J., Armstrong, J.C., Fan, X., Finlator, K., Geballe, T.R., Gunn, J.E., Hennessy, G.S., Knapp, G.R., Leggett, S.K., Munn, J.A., Pier, J.R., Rockosi, C.M., Schneider, D.P., Strauss, M.A., Yanny, B., Brinkmann, J., Csabai, I., Hindsley, R.B., Kent, S., Lamb, D.Q., Margon, B., McKay, T.A., Smith, J.A., Waddel, P., York, D.G. (for the SDSS Collaboration), 2001. Solar system objects observed in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey commissioning data. Astron. J. 122, 2749–2784] for MBAs with 0.4 km D 5 km. This means that the number of sub-km MBAs is much more depleted than the result extrapolated from the size distribution for larger asteroids. This shallow slope of sub-km MBAs has been obtained from our first SMBAS (SMBAS-I) ( b = 1.19 ± 0.02 ) which was carried out in February 2001 [Yoshida, F., Nakamura, T., Watanabe, J., Kinoshita, D., Yamamoto, N., Fuse, T., 2003. Size and spatial distributions of sub-km main-belt asteroids. Publ. Astron. Soc. Jpn. 55, 701–715]. We examined taxonomic distribution of sub-km MBAs. Although we could not exactly distinguish S-type and C-type asteroids only using the R and B-magnitude, we divided SMBAS-II MBAs into two groups: S-like asteroids (rocky) and C-like asteroids (carbonaceous). The heliocentric distribution of S-like MBAs was almost flat throughout the entire main belt, while that of C-like MBAs shows an asymmetric distribution, namely, the number of C-like asteroids increases with the heliocentric distance. The number ratio of S- and C-like MBAs with D > 0.6 km was 1:1 in the inner belt (2.0 AU a 2.6 AU), 1:2.3 in the middle belt (2.6 AU a 3.0 AU), and 1:4 in the outer belt (3.0 AU a 3.5 AU), respectively. For the entire main belt, the ratio was 1:2.3.

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selected citations
These citations are derived from selected sources.
This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Citations provided by BIP!
popularity
This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Popularity provided by BIP!
influence
This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Influence provided by BIP!
impulse
This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Impulse provided by BIP!
63
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Top 10%
Top 10%
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