Peculiar shapes of asteroids: Implications for light curves and periods of rotation

This paper presents some simple geometrical models of asteroids with theoretical light curves similar to the observed ones. In some cases the results suggest rotation periods to be double those one can obtain adopting two- or three-axial ellipsoids as models.A possible model, not in terms of a binary system, for asteroids with light curves like those of eclipsing binary stars, is also given.It should be stressed that the models studied in this paper are probably not very similar to real asteroids, but the principal conclusions should not be changed when more sophisticated models are considered.The work is to be a starting point for future researches on laboratory models of asteroids, in order to define, in a quantitative way, how the light curves are affected by the surface roughness and/or the large scale irregularities of the shape of an asteroid.