Mineralogical characterization of A-type asteroid (1951) Lick

de León, J.; Duffard, R.; Licandro, J.; Lazzaro, D.
Bibliographical reference

Astronomy and Astrophysics, v.422, p.L59-L62 (2004)

Advertised on:
7
2004
Number of authors
4
IAC number of authors
2
Citations
18
Refereed citations
18
Description
We have obtained visible and near-infrared reflectance spectra of asteroid (1951) Lick. According to its spectral characteristics in the visible region, this object has been classified as an A-type asteroid by Bus & Binzel (cite{bus2002b}). Here we present a mineralogical analysis of the reflectance spectrum obtained for this object. We compute several parameters that are extracted from the spectrum of the asteroid and that give relevant information about its mineralogical composition, using the method defined by Gaffey et al. (cite{gaffey1993}). We also present results obtained through the fit to the absorption band associated to the pressence of olivine using the Modified Gaussian Model (MGM) method developed by Sunshine et al. (cite{sunshi1990}). Our results indicate that (1951) Lick is an almost pure olivine. The composition of olivine on the surface of Lick is estimated to be about Fo90±10 (low-iron content). Based on observations made with the Nordic Optical Telescope, operated on the island of La Palma jointly by Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, and on observations made with the Italian Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG) operated on the island of La Palma by the Centro Galileo Galilei of the INAF (Instituto Nazionale di Astrofisica), both telescopes located at the Spanish ``Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos'' of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias.