Retrograde spins of near-Earth asteroids from the Yarkovsky effect

A. La Spina, P. Paolicchi (), A. Kryszczyńska and P. Pravec
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A. La Spina: Università di Pisa
P. Paolicchi: Università di Pisa
A. Kryszczyńska: Adam Mickiewicz University
P. Pravec: Astronomical Institute AS CR

Nature, 2004, vol. 428, issue 6981, 400-401

Abstract: Abstract Dynamical resonances in the asteroid belt are the gateway for the production of near-Earth asteroids1 (NEAs). To generate the observed number of NEAs, however, requires the injection of many asteroids into those resonant regions. Collisional processes have long been claimed as a possible source1,2,3, but difficulties with that idea have led to the suggestion that orbital drift arising from the Yarkovsky effect4,5,6,7 dominates the injection process8,9,10. (The Yarkovsky effect is a force arising from differential heating—the ‘afternoon’ side of an asteroid is warmer than the ‘morning’ side.) The two models predict different rotational properties of NEAs: the usual collisional theories2 are consistent with a nearly isotropic distribution of rotation vectors, whereas the ‘Yarkovsky model’ predicts an excess of retrograde rotations. Here we report that the spin vectors of NEAs show a strong and statistically significant excess of retrograde rotations, quantitatively consistent with the theoretical expectations of the Yarkovsky model.

Date: 2004
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DOI: 10.1038/nature02411

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