Photoelectric and CCD Photometry of 951 Gaspra

Abstract

The asteroid 951 Gaspra is a fly-by target for the Galileo space mission. The encounter, planned for October 1991, will represent the first possibility to show an asteroid in close-up. In preparation to this close encounter an earth-based international observing campaign started in 1988 with the goal to provide a substantial data base on the photometric and rotational properties of this object. This will allow on one side to support and optimize the planning of the fly-by and, on the other side, to verify the accuracy of current models for the determination of shapes, surface textures, spin axis orientation and composition. In this paper we present the composite light curve of 951 Gaspra obtained from photoelectric and CCD observations, carried out during the 1990 apparition at the observatories of Asiago, Catania and Loiano (Italy). We have determined the siderial rotational period, the prograde sense of rotation, the H and G parameters and the B-V and V-R color indices.