Observations of near-Earth objects with Spitzer

Abstract

We are carrying out an Exploration Science Warm Spitzer program entitled NEOSurvey in which we are observing 550 Near Earth Objects in 710 hours of Spitzer time. For each object we use a thermal model to derive diameter and albedo. For each object we also derive a (partial) lightcurve; total elapsed observing times range from 15 minutes to 3.2 hours. This catalog of 500+ NEO lightcurves is a substantial increase over the number of NEO lightcurves presently known. In addition to creating a large catalog of NEO properties, we are also able to study the properties of individual NEOs, including those with low delta V values (i.e., accessible asteroids) and those that might be dead comets. The final observations in this program will be obtained by 30 Sept 2016, so at the DPS meeting we will present a first look at our entire catalog of results. All results are posted at nearearthobjects.nau.edu usually within days of the data being released by the Spitzer Science Center. This work was supported in part by funding from the Spitzer Science Center.