DEEP-South: Photometric Study of NPA rotators 5247 Krolv and 14764 Kilauea

  • Published : 2016.04.12

Abstract

The spin states of asteroids is regarded as an important clue to understand not only the physical property of an individual object but also the dynamical evolution of the of the population as a whole. Single asteroids can be broadly classified into two separate groups according to their rotational states; Principal Axis (PA) and Non-Principal Axis (NPA) rotators. To date, lightcurve observations have been carried out mostly for PA asteroids. However, discovery of NPA objects has recently been increased due to new observing techniques, and this is the reason why rotational properties of NPA rotators became an issue. As a DEEP-South pilot study for NPA, we selected two targets, 5247 Krolv (1982 UP6) and 14764 Kilauea (7072 P-L) considering their Principal Axis Rotation (PAR) code and visibility. Observations were made between Jan. and Feb. 2016 for 17 nights employing Korea Microlensing Telescope Network (KMTNet) 1.6 m telescopes installed at SSO and SAAO using DEEP-South TO (Target of Opportunity) mode. To obtain lightcurves, we conducted time-series photometry using Johnson-Cousins R-filter. Multi-band photometry was also made with BVRI filters at the same time, for taxonomy. Their preliminary lightcurves and approximate mineralogy will be presented.

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