S‐asteroids 387 Aquitania and 980 Anacostia: Possible fragments of the breakup of a spinel‐bearing parent body with C03/CV3 affinities

Abstract

Abstract— Asteroids 387 Aquitania and 980 Anacostia are anomalous members of the S‐class. Their reflectance spectra exhibit a strong broad absorption feature longwards of 1.5 μm and no significant feature near 1 μm. Their spectra indicate the presence of spinel, an aluminum‐magnesium oxide mineral commonly present in inclusions in CV3 and CO3 meteorites. Spinel probably makes up only a small percentage of the surface assemblages of these asteroids, but its spectral effect may be enhanced by its presence in fine‐grained white inclusions in immature asteroid regoliths. It is speculated that Aquitania and Anacostia represent material formed in the same nebular zone as the CV3 and CO3 chondrites but either: A) at an earlier time in the nebula when such inclusions might have been a relatively larger fraction of the nebular grain population, or B) in local regions where nebular processes (e.g., settling to the midplane) had concentrated such inclusions. The close similarity of two orbital elements (a, i) suggests that Aquitania and Anacostia may be members of a partially dispersed asteroid family produced by the early disruption of a spinel‐bearing parent body.