). ?Prospecting Asteroids: Indirect technique to estimate overall density and inner composition?

SUCH, PAMELA

Istambul

Congreso; 41st Scientific Assembly of the Committee on Space Research; 2016

COSPAR

Spectroscopic studies of asteroids make possible to obtain some information on their compo- sition from the surface but say little about the innermost material, porosity and density of the object. In addition, spectroscopic observations are affected by the effects of ?space weath- ering? produced by the bombardment of charged particles for certain materials that change their chemical structure, albedo and other physical properties, partly altering their chances of identification. Data such as the mass, size and density of the asteroids are essential at the time to propose space missions in order to determine the best candidates for space exploration and is of great importance to determine a priori any of them remotely from Earth. From many years ago its determined masses of largest asteroids studying the gravitational effects they have on smaller asteroids when they approach them (see Davis and Bender, 1977; Schubart and Matson, 1979; School et al 1987; Hoffman, 1989b, among others), but estimates of the masses of the smallest objects is limited to the effects that occur in extreme close encounters to other asteroids of similar size. This paper presents the results of a search for approaches of pair of asteroids that approximate distances less than 0.0004 UA (50,000 km) of each other in order to study their masses through the astrometric method and to estimate in a future their densities and internal composition.