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Radar imaging of Asteroid 7 Iris |
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| Authors: | S.J. Ostro C. Magri L.A.M. Benner M.C. Nolan M.W. Busch |
| Affiliation: | a Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA b University of Maine at Farmington, 173 High Street - Preble Hall, Farmington, ME 04938, USA c Arecibo Observatory, HC3 Box 53995, Arecibo, PR 00612, USA d Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, MC 150-21, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA e Department of Earth and Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, 595 Charles Young Drive East, Box 951567, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA |
| Abstract: | Arecibo radar images of Iris obtained in November 2006 reveal a topographically complex object whose gross shape is approximately ellipsoidal with equatorial dimensions within 15% of 253 × 228 km. The radar view of Iris was restricted to high southern latitudes, precluding reliable estimation of Iris’ entire 3D shape, but permitting accurate reconstruction of southern hemisphere topography. The most prominent features, three roughly 50-km-diameter concavities almost equally spaced in longitude around the south pole, are probably impact craters. In terms of shape regularity and fractional relief, Iris represents a plausible transition between ∼50-km-diameter asteroids with extremely irregular overall shapes and very large concavities, and very much larger asteroids (Ceres and Vesta) with very regular, nearly convex shapes and generally lacking monumental concavities. |
| Keywords: | Asteroids Radar observations |
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