Phase Curves of Nine Trojan Asteroids over a Wide Range of Phase Angles
Martha W. Schaefer, Bradley E. Schaefer, David L. Rabinowitz, and, Suzanne W. Tourtellotte

TL;DR
This study presents phase curves for nine Trojan asteroids, revealing surface properties and surge mechanisms, supporting the hypothesis that Trojans originated as icy bodies in the outer Solar System and lost their ices.
Contribution
First detailed phase curves for nine Trojans across multiple bands, showing surge mechanisms and surface property comparisons with other small bodies.
Findings
Surge slopes indicate coherent backscattering as the dominant mechanism.
Trojans share surface properties with outer Solar System bodies but differ from main belt asteroids.
Results support the idea that Trojans formed as icy bodies and lost their surface ices.
Abstract
We have observed well-sampled phase curves for nine Trojan asteroids in B-, V-, and I-bands. These were constructed from 778 magnitudes taken with the 1.3-m telescope on Cerro Tololo as operated by a service observer for the SMARTS consortium. Over our typical phase range of 0.2-10 deg, we find our phase curves to be adequately described by a linear model, for slopes of 0.04-0.09 mag/deg with average uncertainty less than 0.02 mag/deg. (The one exception, 51378 (2001 AT33), has a formally negative slope of -0.02 +- 0.01 mag/deg.) These slopes are too steep for the opposition surge mechanism to be shadow hiding (SH), so we conclude that the dominant surge mechanism must be coherent backscattering (CB). In a detailed comparison of surface properties (including surge slope, B-R color, and albedo), we find that the Trojans have surface properties similar to the P and C class asteroids…
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