• 천문학회보
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• 제46권1호
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• pp.45.2-46
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• 2021

The Hayabusa 2 mission target asteroid (162173) Ryugu is a near-Earth, carbonaceous (C-type) asteroid. Before the arrival, this asteroid is expected to be covered with mm- to cm- sized grains through the thermal infrared observations [1]. These grains are widely understood to be formed by past impacts with other celestial bodies and fractures induced by thermal fatigue [2]. However, the close-up images by the MASCOT lander showed lumpy boulders but no abundant fine grains [3]. Morota et al. suggested that there would be submillimeter particles on the top of these boulders but not resolved by Hayabusa 2's onboard instruments [4]. Hence, we conducted polarimetry of Ryugu to investigate microscopic grain sizes on its surface. Polarimetry is a powerful tool to estimate physical properties such as albedo and grain size. Especially, it is known that the maximum polarization degree (Pmax) and the geometric albedo (pV) show an empirical relationship depending on surface grain sizes [5]. We observed Ryugu from UT 2020 November 30 to December 10 at large phase angles (ranging from 78.5 to 89.7 degrees) to derive Pmax. We modified TRIPOL (Triple Range Imager and POLarimeter, [6]) to attach to the 1.8-m telescope at the Bohyunsan Optical Astronomy Observatory (BOAO). With this instrument, we observed the asteroid and determined linear polarization degrees at the Rc-band filter. We obtained sufficient data sets from 7 nights at this observatory to determine the Pmax value, and collaborated with other observatories in Japan (i.e., Hokkaido University, Higashi-Hiroshima, and Nishi-Harima) to acquire linear polarization degrees of the asteroid from total 24 nights observations with large phase angle coverage (From 28 to 104 degrees). The observational results have been published in Kuroda et al. (2021) [7]. We thus found the dominance of submillimeter particles on the surface of Ryugu from the comparison with other meteorite samples from the campaign observation. In this presentation, we report our activity to modify the TRIPOL for the 1.8-m telescope and the polarimetric performance. We also examine the rotational variability of the polarization degree using the TRIPOL data.

• 천문학회보
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• 제45권1호
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• pp.45.2-46
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• 2020

Various processes, such as space weathering and granular convection, are occurring on asteroids' surfaces. Estimation of the surface exposure timescale is essential for understanding these processes. The Hayabusa mission target asteroid, (25143) Itokawa (Sq-type) is the only asteroid whose age is estimated from remote sensing observations as well as sample analyses in laboratories. There is, however, an unignorable discrepancy between the timescale derived from these different techniques. The ages estimated based on the solar flare track density and the weathered rim thickness of regolith samples range between 102 and 104 years [1][2]. On the contrary, the ages estimated from the crater size distributions and the spectra cover from 106 to 107 years [3][4]. It is important to notice that there is a common drawback of both age estimation methods. Since the evidence of regolith migration is found on the surface of Itokawa [5], the surficial particles would be rejuvenated by granular convection. At the same time, it is expected that the erasure of craters by regolith migration would affect the crater size distribution. We propose a new technique to estimate surface exposure age, focusing on the bright mottles on the large boulders. Our technique is less prone to the granular convection. These mottles are expected to be formed by impacts of mm to cm-sized interplanetary particles. Together with the well-known flux model of interplanetary dust particles (e.g., Grün, 1985 [6]), we have investigated the timescale to form such mottles before they become dark materials again by the space weathering. In this work, we used three AMICA (Asteroid Multi-band Imaging Camera) v-band images. These images were taken on 2005 November 12 during the close approach to the asteroid. As a result, we found the surface exposure timescales of these boulders are an order of 106 years. In this meeting, we will introduce our data analysis technique and evaluate the consistency among previous research for a better understanding of the evolution of this near-Earth asteroid.

• 천문학논총
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• 제32권1호
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• pp.55-57
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• 2017

Presently, the number of known asteroids is more than 710,000. Knowledge of size and albedo is essential in many aspects of asteroid research, such as the chemical composition and mineralogy, the size-frequency distribution of dynamical families, and the relationship between small bodies in the outer solar system or comets. Recently, based on the infrared all-sky survey data obtained by IRAS, AKARI, and WISE, the large asteroid catalogs containing size and albedo data have been constructed. In this paper, we discuss the compositional distribution in the main belt regions based on the compiled data on size, albedo, and separately obtained taxonomic type information.

• 천문학회보
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• 제37권1호
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• pp.98.1-98.1
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• 2012

The Hayabusa mission successfully rendezvoused with its target asteroid 25143 Itokawa in 2005 and brought the asteroidal sample to the Earth in 2009. This mission enabled to connect the S-type asteroids to ordinary chondrites, the counterpart meteorites which exist in near Earth orbit. Recent finding of a fragment from 25143 Itokawa [1] suggested that the asteroid experienced an impact after the injection to the near-Earth orbit. In this presentation, we investigated the evidence of the recent impact on 25143 Itokawa using the onboard camera, AMICA. AMICA took more than 1400 images of Itokawa during the rendezvous phase. It is reported that AMICA images are highly contaminated by lights scattered inside the optics in the longer wavelength. We developed a technique to subtract the scattered light by determining the point spread functions for all available channels. As the result, we first succeeded in the determination of the surface spectra in all available bands. We consider a most fresh-looking compact crater, Kamoi, is a possible impact site.

• 천문학회보
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• 제42권2호
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• pp.49.2-49.2
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• 2017

With support from the K-GMT science program (PID: GN-2016B-Q-14), we conducted observations of active asteroid 354P/LINEAR (2010 A2) when it made its closest approach to Earth (i.e., the geocentric distance of 1.06 au on 2017 January 27-28). Taking advantage of the best observing geometry since the discovery, we obtained the first evidence for the rotational status of the largest fragment (~120 m in diameter), which was slowly rotating, that is, the rotational period of 11.36 hours. In addition, we succeed in direct imaging of 10 sub-fragments (~20 m in diameter or larger). Based on these new observational results, we conjecture that this active asteroid was created as a result of catastrophic collision among unknown asteroids. The details of this work are given in Astrophysical Journal Letters, 842, L23.

• 천문학회보
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• 제35권1호
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• pp.87.1-87.1
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• 2010

Main-belt comets (hereafter MBCs) are one of the hottest topics in the solar system astronomy. They are objects orbiting in the main asteroid belt which show cometary activity. Unlike most comets, which spend most of their orbit beyond 5AU from the Sun, MBCs follow near-circular orbits within the asteroid belt that are indistinguishable from the orbits of major population of the asteroids. P/2010 A2, the fifth MBC, was discovered by on January 6, 2010 by Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research. It passed its perihelion at 2.01AU on December 3, 2009, about a month before it was discovered. With an aphelion of only 2.6 AU, P/2010 A2 spends all of its time inside of the frostline ~2.7 AU. We made observations of P/2010 A2 with Nishi-Harima Astronomical Observatory 2-m telescope only a week after the discovery. From the observed images, we found that the dust cloud was composed of large particles (>1mm) impulsively ejected between March and June, 2009. No coma was detected by our observations, suggesting that this object was no longer active. Consequently, we conjecture that these dust particles could be released by the impact collision among asteroids.

• 천문학회보
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• 제36권1호
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• pp.41.2-41.2
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• 2011

P/2010 A2, a main-belt asteroid having comet-like dust trail was discovered in January 2010, but the origin of the trail is controversial. Moreno et al. (2010) reported water-ice sublimation as a mechanism for the comet-like activity, whereas other researches (Jewitt et al. 2010; Snodgrass et al. 2010) stated that impact collision contributed to the dust trail. For asteroids are categorized based on spectral shape, optical observation using different color filters makes it possible to determine the taxonomic type of P/2010 A2 nucleus, thus gives an answer to the question of activation mechanism of the object. In this presentation, we report multiband observation of P/2010 A2 in January and March 2010 with 1-meter telescope of Ishigaki-Jima Astronomical Observatory. We employed three broadband filters of g', Rc, and Ic. In this presentation, we focus on the data acquisition, the reduction and the derivation of the reflectance spectrum of debris in the trail. Finally we discuss the potential cause of dust ejection from this asteroid.

• 천문학회보
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• 제46권2호
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• pp.57.2-57.2
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• 2021

An asteroid is important for understanding the condition of our solar system in early-stage because an asteroid, considered as a building block of the solar system, preserves the information when our solar system was formed. It has been continuously flowing into the near-Earth space, and then some asteroids have a probability of impacting Earth. Some asteroids have valuable minerals and volatiles for future resources in space activity. Korean government clarified, in the 3rd promotion plan for space activity, an asteroid sample return mission by the mid-2030s. However, it is almost impossible to do so based on only a single experience of an exploration mission to the Moon, Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter, which will be launched in mid-2022. We propose a Rendezvous Mission to Apophis(RMA), beneficial in terms of science, impact hazardous, resource, and technical readiness for the space exploration of Korea.

• 천문학회보
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• 제46권2호
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• pp.58.1-59
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• 2021

Exploration of asteroids' internal structure is essential for understanding their evolutional history. It also provides a fundamental information about the history of coalescence and collision of the solar system. Among several models of the internal structures, the rubble-pile model, confirmed by the near-Earth asteroid (25143) Itokawa by Hayabusa mission [1], is now widely regarded as the most common to asteroids with size ranging from 200 m to 10 km [2]. On the contrary, monolithic and core-mantle structures are also possible for small asteroids [3]. It is, however, still challenging to look through the interior of a target object using remote-sensing devices. In this presentation, we introduce our ongoing research conducted at Seoul National and propose an idea to infer the internal structure of Apophis using available instruments. Itokawa's research provides an important benchmark for Apophis exploration because both asteroids have similar size and composition [4][5]. We have conducted research on Itokawa's evolution in terms of collision and space weathering. Space weathering is the surface alteration process caused by solar wind implantation and micrometeorite bombardment [6]. Meanwhile, resurfacing via a collision acts as a counter-process of space weathering by exposing fresh materials under the matured layer and lower the overall degree of space weathering. Therefore, the balance of these two processes determine the space weathering degrees of the asteroid. We focus on the impact evidence on the boulder surface and found that space weathering progresses in only 100-10,000 years and modifies the surface optical properties (Jin & Ishiguro, KAS 2020 Fall Meeting). It is important to note that the timescale is significantly shorter than the Itokawa's age, suggesting that the asteroid can be totally processed by space weathering. Accordingly, our result triggers a further discussion about why Itokawa indicates a moderately fresh spectrum (Sq-type denotes less matured than S-type). For example, Itokawa's smooth terrains show a weaker degree of space weathering than other S-type asteroids [7]. We conjecture that the global seismic shaking caused by collisions with >1 mm-sized interplanetary dust particles induces granular convection, which hinders the progression of space weathering [8]. Note that the efficiency of seismic wave propagation is strongly dependent on the internal structure of the asteroid. Finally, we consider possible approaches to investigate Apophis's internal structure. The first idea is studying the space weathering age, as conducted for Itokawa. If Apophis indicates a younger age, the internal structure would have more voids [9]. In addition, the 2029 close encounter with Earth provides a rare natural opportunity to witness the contrast between before and after the event. If the asteroid exhibits a slight change in shape and space weathering degree, one can determine the physical structure of the internal materials (e.g., rubble-pile monolithic, thick or thin regolith layer, the cohesion of the materials). We will also consider a possible science using a seismometer.

• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
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• 제25권3호
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• pp.331-333
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• 2009

A new asteroid specimen was collected at a depth of 400 m in the East Sea. It was identified as Lophaster furcilliger Fisher, 1905 belonging to the family Solasteridae of the order Velatida. This species is new to the Korean fauna. Thirty asteroid species including L. furcilliger have been reported in the East Sea of Korea so far.