Abstract
Context. The potentially hazardous asteroid (PHA) (357439) 2004 BL86 grazed Earth on January 26, 2015 at a distance of about 1.2 million km. This favorable geometry allowed observing it to derive its physical and dynamical parameters. (357439) 2004 BL86 was previously estimated to be a 500-m body. We study it also considering possible mechanisms that might mitigate the effect of asteroids that might become dangerous for Earth. Aims. Physical and dynamical investigations of this peculiar object were performed to be able to characterize this object. Methods. We used spectral observations obtained in the visible (V) using the Isaac Newton Telescope and in the near-infrared (NIR) using the InfraRed Telescope Facility. A complementary photometric survey during two nights was also provided by the Astronomical Observatory Cluj-Feleacu station in Romania. We anlyzed the data using reliable mathematical tools that were previously published under the acronym M4AST.Results. VNIR spectral observations classify (357439) 2004 BL86 as V-type asteroid. The mineralogical analysis reveals its similarities to howardite-eucrite-diogenite meteorites. The band analysis reveals that the object is more similar to a eucritic and howarditic composition, and that it originated from the crust of a large parent body. The analysis yields a mineralogical solution of Wo17 Fs39 with an error bar of 4%. Based on the average value of the thermal albedo for V-type objects, its diameter was re-estimated to a value of 290 ± 30 m. The dynamical analysis shows a chaotical behavior of (357439) 2004 BL86. The statistics on meteorite falls show that (357439) 2004 BL86 does not appear to significantly contribute to the current howardite-eucrite-diogenite meteorite flux. For the two photometrical observing runs the following values of the rotational period and peak-to-peak amplitude were estimated for the light curves: 2.637 ± 0.024 h, 0.105 ± 0.007 mag, and 2.616 ± 0.061 h, 0.109 ± 0.018 mag, respectively.
Highlights
Near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) is a term that describes all small bodies that intersect the orbits of telluric planets
We used spectral observations obtained in the visible (V) using the Isaac Newton Telescope and in the near-infrared (NIR) using the InfraRed Telescope Facility
There are very few objects among potentially hazardous asteroid (PHA) that are assigned to a V-type taxonomic class. (357439) 2004 BL86 together with other V-type asteroids (DeMeo et al 2009; Bus & Binzel 2002; Sanchez et al 2013; Binzel et al 2004) are representative for this taxonomic class within PHAs and are probably related to HED meteorites
Summary
Near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) is a term that describes all small bodies that intersect the orbits of telluric planets. 1579 objects are classified as potentially hazardous asteroids (PHAs). Of these PHAs, only 40 present spectral data covering the visible and near-infrared interval. Test mission designs for mitigation processes are developed all over the world. These initiatives include both researchers in fundamental sciences and industries specialized in space explorations to establish a correct scenario of each situation. Several ejection mechanisms of particles from asteroids (i.e., contribution to the meteoroid flux in the vicinity of Earth) were proposed (Jewitt et al 2015), but the efficiency of these mechanisms is still a subject of debate. Feb. 7, 2015, 10h 22m 16.5 50.7 0.107 1.66 12 120 s 3 0.9 19 0.8−2.5 HD 72911 Feb. 6, 2015, 02h 30m 16.4 50.6 0.095 1.30 40 600 s 4 1.0 15 0.4−0.9 HD 76617
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