Fugitives from the Eos Family: First Spectroscopic Confirmation

✍ Scribed by V. Zappalà; Ph. Bendjoya; A. Cellino; M. Di Martino; A. Doressoundiram; A. Manara; F. Migliorini

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 83 KB
• Volume: 145
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0019-1035
• DOI: 10.1006/icar.2000.6349

✦ Synopsis

The fact that some asteroids presently located in the 9/4 meanmotion resonance with Jupiter could be "Eos fugitives," that is, original members of this asteroid family injected into the resonance and experiencing a gradual eccentricity increase, was first suggested a few years ago (Morbidelli, A., V. Zappal à, M. Moons, A. Cellino, and R. Gonczi 1995. Icarus 118, 132-154). We present here the results of a campaign of spectroscopic observations of candidate Eos fugitives, and we confirm that some of these objects should come from this family, according to their observed spectral characteristics. We find also indications that these objects are probably relatively young. We can conclude that Eos fugitives are a first example of family objects observed during the dynamical process of leaving the asteroid main belt. The results confirm current ideas about the dynamics governing bodies injected into the 9/4 resonance. This can be important also from the point of view of a possible relationship between the Eos family and CV/CO chondrites, as suggested by spectral analogies.