Near-Infrared Reconnaissance of Near-Earth Objects

解开小行星、彗星和陨石之间的基本关系是对我们自己的行星系统早期历史进行重要新见解的第一步。对近地天体群的观测研究为研究所有这三类天体提供了独特的机会。社会的长期利益还要求我们了解近地天体的数量，以便评估近地天体的撞击危险和空间资源潜力，马萨诸塞州理工学院的Richard Binzel博士将指导一个观测方案，每年测量40-60个近地天体的近红外光谱特性，大大提高了对地球最近邻居的此类观测的数量和质量。将在夏威夷莫纳克亚山红外望远镜设施使用最先进的新型SpeX光谱仪在0.8- 2.5微米波长范围内进行近红外测量。 该项目的主要目标是对近地天体群的近红外光谱特征进行基本侦察。观测结果和数据集将在两种测量方法之间取得平衡，一种是将最小和最微弱物体的技术推向最先进的极限，另一种是提供足以进行详细矿物学分析的高信噪比光谱的测量方法。***

AST 0205863BinzelUnraveling the fundamental relationships between asteroids, comets, and meteorites is afirst step toward important new insights into the early history of our own planetary system. Observational investigation of the near-Earth object (NEO) population provides the unique opportunity for studying all three of these classes of objects. The long-term interests of society also dictate that we achieve an understanding of the NEO population for assessing NEOs for their impact hazard and space resource potential.Dr. Richard Binzel, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will direct an observational program to measure the near infrared spectral properties for 40-60 NEOs per year, substantially increasing the quantity and quality of these types of observations of Earth's nearest neighbors. The near-infrared measurements will be made over the wavelength range 0.8-2.5Mm using the new state-of-the-art SpeX spectrograph at the Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) at Mauna Kea, Hawaii. The principal goal of the project is basic reconnaissance of the near-infrared spectral characteristics of the NEO population. The observations and data set will be a balance between measurements that push to the state-of-the-art limits of the technology for the smallest and faintest objects and measurements that provide high signal-to-noise-ratio spectra sufficient for detailed mineralogical analysis. ***