Spectral properties of near-Earth asteroids on cometary orbits

Popescu, M.; Vaduvescu, O.; de Leon, J.; Boaca, I. L.; Gherase, R. M.; Nedelcu, D. A.; INT students, I. N. G.
Bibliographical reference

European Planetary Science Congress 2017, held 17-22 September, 2017 in Riga Latvia, id. EPSC2017-537

Advertised on:
9
2017
Number of authors
7
IAC number of authors
1
Citations
0
Refereed citations
0
Description
We studied the spectral distributions of near-Earth asteroids on cometary orbits (NEACOs) in order to identify potential dormant or extinct comets among these objects. We present the spectral observations for 19 NEACOs obtained with Isaac Newton Telescope and Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF). Although initially classified as asteroid, one of our targets - 2007 VA85 was confirmed to be active comet 333P/LINEAR on its 2016 appearance. We found that the NEACOs population is a mixing of different compositional classes.