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Asteroid families

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 March 2006

David Nesvorný ,
William F. Bottke ,
David Vokrouhlický ,
Alessandro Morbidelli  and
Robert Jedicke
David Nesvorný
Affiliation:
Department of Space Studies, Southwest Research Institute, 1050 Walnut St., Suite 400, Boulder, CO 80302, USA, email: davidn@boulder.swri.edu
William F. Bottke
Affiliation:
Department of Space Studies, Southwest Research Institute, 1050 Walnut St., Suite 400, Boulder, CO 80302, USA, email: davidn@boulder.swri.edu
David Vokrouhlický
Affiliation:
Institute of Astronomy, Charles University, V Holešovickách 2, CZ-18000 Prague 8, Czech Republic
Alessandro Morbidelli
Affiliation:
Observatoire de la Côte D'Azur, Dept. Cassiopee, BP 4224, 06304 Nice Cedex 4, France
Robert Jedicke
Affiliation:
Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA
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Abstract

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An asteroid family is a group of asteroids with similar orbits and spectra that was produced by a collisional breakup of a large parent body. To identify asteroid families, researchers look for clusters of asteroid positions in the space of proper orbital elements. These elements, being more constant over time than osculating orbital elements, provide a dynamical criterion of whether a group of bodies has a common ancestor. More than fifty asteroid families have been identified to date. Their analysis produced several important insights into the physics of large scale collisions, dynamical processes affecting small bodies in the Solar System, and surface and interior properties of asteroids.

Keywords

minor planetsasteroids
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 1 , Symposium S229: Asteroids, Comets, Meteors , August 2005 , pp. 289 - 299
Copyright
© 2006 International Astronomical Union