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Study on the spin states of asteroids using a simplistic shape model
Author(s) -
Wang Y.B.,
Xu Y.,
Fan C.B.,
Liu C.Z.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
astronomische nachrichten
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.394
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1521-3994
pISSN - 0004-6337
DOI - 10.1002/asna.201813491
Subject(s) - asteroid , markov chain monte carlo , statistical physics , ellipsoid , spin (aerodynamics) , physics , photometry (optics) , state (computer science) , markov chain , monte carlo method , astrophysics , astronomy , theoretical physics , computer science , algorithm , statistics , mathematics , stars , machine learning , thermodynamics
Photometric observation is one of the most important means to understand the fundamental properties of asteroids. As more and more photometric data are obtained, expanding effectively the number of samples on the spin states of asteroids has become an important research topic. To obtain a preliminary solution of the spin state without statistical discrepancy by the photometric observations derived from a handful of apparitions, a moderate‐complexity shape model consisting of eight adjacent octants with different semiaxes, namely cellinoid ellipsoid, can be adopted. Using this model and employing a Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method, the spin states of four asteroids are discussed based on the existing photometric data.