Abstract
Almost every radar observation of asteroids has measured some characteristics of the distribution of echo power in time delay (range) and Doppler frequency (radial velocity). Such measurements, which are orthogonal to optical plane-of-sky angular astrometry, are also done in the well-known, “absolute” reference frame of the planetary ephemerides, often with fractional precision that is much finer than can be achieved with other kinds of groundbased observations; they therefore can dramatically refine orbits and ephemerides. This statement is most true for near-Earth asteroids (NEAs), which constitute the most prolifically observed radar targets and are likely to be observed in increasing abundance as instrumental capabilities improve and CCD-based, NEA search programs expand. Moreover, studies of closely approaching NEAs benefit tremendously from the inverse fourth-power dependence of echo strength on target distance. For these reasons, I devote the bulk of this paper to NEAs.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Asphaug, E., Ostro, S.J., de Jong, E.M., Scheeres, D.J., Suzuki, S., Hudson, R.S., and Benz, W.:1996, “Disruptive impacts into an Earth-approaching asteroid”, Bull. Am. Astron. Soc., in press.
de Pater, I., Palmer, P., Mitchell, D.L., Ostro, S.J., Yeomans, D.K., and Snyder, L.E.: 1994, “Radar aperture synthesis observations of asteroids”, Icarus 111, 489–502.
Hudson, R.S.: 1993, “Three-dimensional reconstruction of asteroids from radar observations”, Remote Sensing Reviews 8, 195–203.
Hudson, R.S. and Ostro, S.J.: 1994, “Shape of asteroid 4769 Castalia (1989 PB) from inversion of radar images”, Science 263, 940–943.
Hudson, R.S. and Ostro S.J.: 1995, “Shape and non-principal axis spin state of asteroid 4179 Toutatis”, Science 270, 84–86.
Hudson, R.S. and Ostro, S.J.: 1995, “Radar-based physical models of Earth-crossing asteroids”, Bull. Am. Astron. Soc. 27, 1062.
Ostro, S.J.: 1993, “Planetary radar astronomy”, Rev. Mod. Phys. 65, 1235–1279.
Ostro, S.J.:1994, “The role of groundbased radar in near-Earth object hazard identification and mitigation”, in: Hazards Due to Comets and Asteroids (T. Gehrels, M.S. Matthews, eds), Univ. of Arizona Press, 259-282.
Ostro, S.J., Campbell, D.B., Chandler, J.F., Shapiro, I.I., Hine, A.A., Velez, R., Jurgens, R.F., Rosema, K.D., Winkler, R., and Yeomans, D.K.: 1991, “Asteroid radar astrometry”, Astron. J. 102, 1490–1502.
Ostro, S.J., Hudson, R.S., Jurgens, R.F., Rosema, K.D., Winkler, R., Howard, D., Rose, R., Slade, M.A., Yeomans, D.K., Giorgini, J.D., Campbell, D.B., Perillat, P., Chandler, J.F., and Shapiro I.I.: 1995, “Radar images of asteroid 4179 Toutatis”, Science 270, 80–83.
Ostro, S.J., Rosema, K.D., Hudson, R.S., Jurgens, R.F., Giorgini, J.D., Winkler, R., Yeomans, D.K., Choate, D., Rose, R., Slade, M.A., Howard, S.D., and Mitchell D.L.: 1995, “Extreme elongation of asteroid 1620 Geographos from radar images”, Nature 375, 474–477.
Ostro, S.J., Choate, D., Cormier, R.A., Franck, C.R., Frye, R., Giorgini, J., Howard, D., Jurgens, R.F., Littlefair, R., Mitchell, D.L., Rose, R., Rosema, K.D., Slade, M.A., Strobert, D.R., Winkler, R., Yeomans, D.K., Hudson, R.S., Palmer, P., Snyder, L.E., Zaitsev, A., Ignatov, S., Koyama, Y., and Nakamura A.: 1995, “Asteroid 1991 JX: The 1995 Goldstone radar experiment”, Bull. Am. Astron. Soc. 27, 1063.
Ostro, S.J., Jurgens, R.F., Rosema, K.D., Hudson, R.S., Giorgini, J.D., Winkler, R., Yeomans, D.K., Scheeres, D.J., Choate, D., Rose, R., Slade, M.A., Howard, S.D., and Mitchell, D.L.: 1996, “Radar images of Geographos”, Icarus 121, 44–66.
Scheeres, D.J., Ostro, S.J., Hudson R.S., and Werner R.A.: 1996, “Orbits close to asteroid 4769 Castalia”, Icarus 121, 67–87.
Werner, R.A.: 1994, “The gravitational potential of a homogeneous polyhedron”, Celest. Mech. & Dyn. Astron. 59, 253–278.
Yeomans, D.K., Ostro, S.J., and Chodas P.W.: 1987, “Radar astrometry of near-Earth asteroids”, Astron. J. 94, 189–200.
Yeomans, D.K., Chodas, P.W., Keesey, M.S., Ostro, S.J., Chandler J.F., and Shapiro, I.I.: 1992, “Asteroid and comet orbits using radar data”, Astron. J. 103, 303–317.
Yeomans, D.K. and Chodas P.W.:1994, “Predicting close approaches of asteroids and comets to Earth”, in: Hazards Due to Comets and Asteroids (T. Gehrels, M. S. Matthews, eds), Univ. of Arizona Press, 241-258.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1997 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this paper
Cite this paper
Ostro, S.J. (1997). Radar Contributions to Asteroid Astrometry and Dynamics. In: Wytrzyszczak, I.M., Lieske, J.H., Feldman, R.A. (eds) Dynamics and Astrometry of Natural and Artificial Celestial Bodies. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-5534-2_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-5534-2_10
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-010-6330-2
Online ISBN: 978-94-011-5534-2
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive