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Main Authors: Levison, Harold F., Marchi, Simone, Noll, Keith S., Spencer, John R., Statler, Thomas S., team, the Lucy mission
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2406.19337
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author Levison, Harold F.
Marchi, Simone
Noll, Keith S.
Spencer, John R.
Statler, Thomas S.
team, the Lucy mission
author_facet Levison, Harold F.
Marchi, Simone
Noll, Keith S.
Spencer, John R.
Statler, Thomas S.
team, the Lucy mission
contents Asteroids with diameters less than about 5 km have complex histories because they are small enough for radiative torques, YORP, to be a notable factor in their evolution. (152830) Dinkinesh is a small asteroid orbiting the Sun near the inner edge of the Main Asteroid Belt with a heliocentric semimajor axis of 2.19 AU; its S type spectrum is typical of bodies in this part of the Main Belt. Here we report observations by the Lucy spacecraft as it passed within 431 km of Dinkinesh. Lucy revealed Dinkinesh, which has an effective diameter of only $\sim$720 m, to be unexpectedly complex. Of particular note is the presence of a prominent longitudinal trough overlain by a substantial equatorial ridge, and the discovery of the first confirmed contact binary satellite, now named (152830) Dinkinesh I Selam. Selam consists of two near-equal sized lobes with diameters of $\sim$210 m and $\sim$230 m. It orbits Dinkinesh at a distance of 3.1 km with an orbital period of about 52.7 hr, and is tidally locked. The dynamical state, angular momentum, and geomorphologic observations of the system lead us to infer that the ridge and trough of Dinkinesh are probably the result of mass failure resulting from spin-up by YORP followed by the partial reaccretion of the shed material. Selam probably accreted from material shed by this event.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2406_19337
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A Contact Binary Satellite of the Asteroid (152830) Dinkinesh
Levison, Harold F.
Marchi, Simone
Noll, Keith S.
Spencer, John R.
Statler, Thomas S.
team, the Lucy mission
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Asteroids with diameters less than about 5 km have complex histories because they are small enough for radiative torques, YORP, to be a notable factor in their evolution. (152830) Dinkinesh is a small asteroid orbiting the Sun near the inner edge of the Main Asteroid Belt with a heliocentric semimajor axis of 2.19 AU; its S type spectrum is typical of bodies in this part of the Main Belt. Here we report observations by the Lucy spacecraft as it passed within 431 km of Dinkinesh. Lucy revealed Dinkinesh, which has an effective diameter of only $\sim$720 m, to be unexpectedly complex. Of particular note is the presence of a prominent longitudinal trough overlain by a substantial equatorial ridge, and the discovery of the first confirmed contact binary satellite, now named (152830) Dinkinesh I Selam. Selam consists of two near-equal sized lobes with diameters of $\sim$210 m and $\sim$230 m. It orbits Dinkinesh at a distance of 3.1 km with an orbital period of about 52.7 hr, and is tidally locked. The dynamical state, angular momentum, and geomorphologic observations of the system lead us to infer that the ridge and trough of Dinkinesh are probably the result of mass failure resulting from spin-up by YORP followed by the partial reaccretion of the shed material. Selam probably accreted from material shed by this event.
title A Contact Binary Satellite of the Asteroid (152830) Dinkinesh
topic Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2406.19337