Near Earth Objects and Their Physical Characterization

Abstract

The present research on Near Earth Objects (NEOs) is mostly limited on addressing the question on their number and how hazardous they may be to the Earth. Catalina Sky Survey (CSS) has submitted thousands of astrometric observations to the Minor Planet Center (MPC) resulting in discovery of hundreds of NEOS but much of their physical characteristics remain unknown. OSIRIS-Rex, a return sample mission, will visit 1999 RQ36, a carbonaceous asteroid, physical characteristic which could only be identified through other techniques of observations than just astrometry. Using VATT (Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope), we observed 11 NEOs using photometry with four broadband filters (BVRI). With this project where we combined two approaches (two-color plots, and comparison of relative reflectance normalized to V-filter with the real observed spectra), we were able to determine color of the 11 NEOs, and therefore had some clue about their physical characteristics particularly composition, size, structure, albedo…