Characterizing Asteroids Multiply-Observed at Infrared Wavelengths

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the use of Markov chain Monte Carlo fitting of a thermophysical model to infrared flux data from WISE and NEOWISE to determine asteroid surface properties, leveraging multiple observations at different epochs.

Contribution

It introduces a method to analyze multiple-epoch infrared observations of asteroids to infer their spin axes and thermal properties using a rotating cratered thermophysical model.

Findings

Successful MCMC fits to 10 asteroids' flux data

Potential to analyze surface thermal properties of many asteroids

Proof of concept for using combined WISE and NEOWISE data

Abstract

We report Markov chain Monte Carlo fits of the thermophysical model of Wright (2007) to the fluxes of 10 asteroids which have been observed by both WISE and NEOWISE. This model is especially useful when one has observations of an asteroid at multiple epochs, as it takes advantage of the views of different local times and latitudes to determine the spin axis and the thermal parameter. Many of the asteroids NEOWISE observes will have already been imaged by WISE, so this proof of concept shows there is an opportunity to use a rotating cratered thermophysical model to determine surface thermal properties of a large number of asteroids.