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Hergenrother CW, Maleszewski CK, Nolan MC, Li JY, Drouet d'Aubigny CY, Shelly FC, Howell ES, Kareta TR, Izawa MRM, Barucci MA, Bierhaus EB, Campins H, Chesley SR, Clark BE, Christensen EJ, DellaGiustina DN, Fornasier S, Golish DR, Hartzell CM, Rizk B, Scheeres DJ, Smith PH, Zou XD, Lauretta DS. The operational environment and rotational acceleration of asteroid (101955) Bennu from OSIRIS-REx observations. Nat Commun 2019; 10:1291. [PMID: 30890725 PMCID: PMC6425024 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-09213-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 79] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2019] [Accepted: 02/26/2019] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
During its approach to asteroid (101955) Bennu, NASA's Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft surveyed Bennu's immediate environment, photometric properties, and rotation state. Discovery of a dusty environment, a natural satellite, or unexpected asteroid characteristics would have had consequences for the mission's safety and observation strategy. Here we show that spacecraft observations during this period were highly sensitive to satellites (sub-meter scale) but reveal none, although later navigational images indicate that further investigation is needed. We constrain average dust production in September 2018 from Bennu's surface to an upper limit of 150 g s-1 averaged over 34 min. Bennu's disk-integrated photometric phase function validates measurements from the pre-encounter astronomical campaign. We demonstrate that Bennu's rotation rate is accelerating continuously at 3.63 ± 0.52 × 10-6 degrees day-2, likely due to the Yarkovsky-O'Keefe-Radzievskii-Paddack (YORP) effect, with evolutionary implications.
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Affiliation(s)
- C W Hergenrother
- Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.
| | - C K Maleszewski
- Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - M C Nolan
- Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - J-Y Li
- Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | | | - F C Shelly
- Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - E S Howell
- Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - T R Kareta
- Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - M R M Izawa
- Institute for Planetary Materials, Okayama University-Misasa, Misasa, Tottori, Japan
| | - M A Barucci
- LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, Université PSL, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, Univ. Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Meudon, France
| | | | - H Campins
- Department of Physics, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA
| | - S R Chesley
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
| | - B E Clark
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY, USA
| | - E J Christensen
- Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - D N DellaGiustina
- Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - S Fornasier
- LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, Université PSL, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, Univ. Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Meudon, France
| | - D R Golish
- Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - C M Hartzell
- Department of Aerospace Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
| | - B Rizk
- Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - D J Scheeres
- Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA
| | - P H Smith
- Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - X-D Zou
- Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - D S Lauretta
- Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
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