A spectral comparison of (379) Huenna and its satellite

Francesca DeMeo; Benoit Carry; Franck Marchis; Mirel Birlan; Richard P. Binzel; Schelte J. Bus; Pascal Descamps; Alin Nedelcu; Michael Busch; Herve Bouy

doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2011.02.002

arXiv · 1102.1623

A spectral comparison of (379) Huenna and its satellite

Francesca DeMeo·Benoit Carry·Franck Marchis·Mirel Birlan·Richard P. Binzel·Schelte J. Bus·Pascal Descamps·Alin Nedelcu·Michael Busch·Herve Bouy

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Abstract

We present near-infrared spectral measurements of Themis family asteroid (379) Huenna (D~98 km) and its 6 km satellite using SpeX on the NASA IRTF. The companion was farther than 1.5" from the primary at the time of observations and was approximately 5 magnitudes dimmer. We describe a method for separating and extracting the signal of a companion asteroid when the signal is not entirely resolved from the primary. The spectrum of (379) Huenna has a broad, shallow feature near 1 {\mu}m and a low slope, characteristic of C-type asteroids. The secondary's spectrum is consistent with the taxonomic classification of C-complex or X-complex. The quality of the data was not sufficient to identify any subtle feature in the secondary's spectrum.

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Francesca DeMeo, Benoit Carry, Franck Marchis, Mirel Birlan, Richard P. Binzel, Schelte J. Bus, Pascal Descamps, Alin Nedelcu, Michael Busch, Herve Bouy. 2011-02-08. A spectral comparison of (379) Huenna and its satellite. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2011.02.002

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