Determination of rotation periods for a large sample of asteroids from K2 Campaign 9

TL;DR

This study utilizes Kepler K2 data to determine rotation periods for 188 asteroids, providing new measurements and confirming previous results, thus enhancing understanding of asteroid rotational properties.

Contribution

First-time determination of asteroid rotation periods from Kepler K2 data using MCPM photometry for over a thousand objects.

Findings

Rotation periods for 188 asteroids were successfully measured.

Good agreement with previously known rotation periods.

Lower limits of at least 100 hours for 20 asteroids.

Abstract

Kepler mission is a powerful tool in the study the different types of astrophysical objects or events in the distant Universe. However, the spacecraft gives also the opportunity to study Solar System objects passing in the telescope field of view. The aim of this paper is to determine for the first time the rotation periods of a number of asteroids observed by the Kepler satellite during the K2 Campaign 9. Using publicly available data from Kepler mission we have used the Modified Causal Pixel Model (MCPM) code to perform the aperture-like and PRF-like photometry of 1026 asteroids. The results allowed us to determine the rotation periods for 188 asteroids. For asteroids with rotation periods previously measured, we compared the results and found very good agreement. There are additional 20 asteroids for which we obtained lower limits on rotation periods and in all cases these limits are at least 100 h.