Bibcode
Licandro, J.; Müller, T.; Alvarez, C.; Alí-Lagoa, V.; Delbo, M.
Bibliographical reference
Astronomy and Astrophysics, Volume 585, id.A10, 4 pp.
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1
2016
Journal
Citations
11
Refereed citations
11
Description
Context. The potentially hazardous asteroid (PHA) (99942) Apophis is one
of the most remarkable near-Earth asteroids (NEA) in terms of impact
hazard. A good determination of its surface thermal inertia is very
important in order to evaluate the Yarkovsky effect on its orbital
evolution. Aims: We present thermal infrared observations
obtained on January 29, 2013, with CanariCam mid-infrared
camera/spectrograph attached to the Gran Telescopio CANARIAS (GTC, Roque
de los Muchachos Observatory, La Palma, Spain) using the Si2-8.7,
Si6-12.5, and Q1-17.65 filters with the aim of deriving Apophis'
diameter (D), geometric albedo (pV), and thermal inertia
(Γ). Methods: We performed a detailed thermophysical model
analysis of the GTC data combined with previously published thermal data
obtained using Herschel Space Observatory PACS instrument at 70, 100,
and 160 μm. Results: The thermophysical model fit of the data
favors low surface roughness solutions (within a range of roughness
slope angles rms between 0.1 and 0.5), and constrains the effective
diameter, visible geometric albedo, and thermal inertia of Apophis to be
Deff = 380-393 m, pV = 0.24-0.33 (assuming
absolute magnitude H = 19.09 ± 0.19) and Γ = 50-500
Jm-2-0.5 K-1, respectively.