High Resolution Images of Vesta at 1.65 μm

✍ Scribed by Donald W. McCarthy Jr.; Jonathan D. Freeman; Jack D. Drummond

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1994
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 890 KB
• Volume: 108
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0019-1035
• DOI: 10.1006/icar.1994.1063

✦ Synopsis

A series of high spatial resolution ( (\sim 140 \mathrm{~km}) ) images of the asteroid 4 Vesta has been obtained in reflected light at (1.65 \mu \mathrm{m}) during the solar oppositions of 1990 and 1992 . Full longitudinal coverage has provided a solution for the triaxial dimensions and rotational pole orientation. Although resolvable surface features are indicated from other techniques, they are not imaged here and must have low contrast relative to the overall background of reflected light. However, in all 48 images, a nonmoving "spot," a possible glint(s), does appear near the sub-Sun point contributing (\sim 10-18 %) of the total flux. This feature does not appear in similar observations of the asteroid 1 Ceres. 1994 Academic Press, Inc.