The main asteroid belt spans ~2-4 AU in heliocentric distance and is sparsely populated by rocky debris. The dynamical structure of the main belt records clues to past events in solar system history. Evidence from the structure of the Kuiper belt, an icy debris belt beyond Neptune, suggests that the giant planets were born in a more compact configuration and later experienced planetesimal-driven planet migration. Giant planet migration caused both mean motion and secular resonances to sweep across the main asteroid belt, raising the eccentricity of asteroids into planet-crossing orbits and depleting the belt. I show that the present-day semimajor axis and eccentricity distributions of large main belt asteroids are consistent with excitation and depletion due to resonance sweeping during the epoch of giant planet migration. I also use an analytical model of the sweeping of the &nu;₆ secular resonance, to set limits on the migration speed of Saturn.After planet migration, dynamical chaos became the dominant loss mechanism for asteroids with diameters D>10 km in the current asteroid belt. I find that the dynamical loss history of test particles from this region is well described with a logarithmic decay law. My model suggests that the rate of impacts from large asteroids may have declined by a factor of three over the last ~3 Gy, and that the present-day impact flux of D>10 km objects on the terrestrial planets is roughly an order of magnitude less than estimates used in crater chronologies and impact hazard risk assessments.Finally, I have quantified the change in the solar wind <super>6</super>Li/<super>7</super>Li ratio due to the estimated in-fall of chondritic material and enhanced dust production during the epoch of planetesimal-driven giant planet migration. The solar photosphere is currently highly depleted in lithium relative to chondrites, and <super>6</super>Li is expected to be far less abundant in the sun than <super>7</super>Li due to the different nuclear reaction rates of the two isotopes. Evidence for a short-lived impact cataclysm that affected the entire inner solar system may be found in the composition of implanted solar wind particles in lunar regolith.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:25:29Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2011-10-27Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:47:34Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 machuca_jfl_me_guara.pdf: 8805916 bytes, checksum: a079609323009e7947c11ada2408948e (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Asteroides de alta inclinação são objetos com sin(i) > 0.3. Entre estes asteroides podemos distinguir objetos com inclinação menor que o centro da ressonância secular ν6 = g−g6 e objetos com inclinação superior. Os atuais mecanismos de mobilidade dinâmica não podem aumentar facilmente inclinações menores do que do centro da ressonância ν6. A presença de objetos de alta inclinação pode, portanto, estar relacionada com fases iniciais do Sistema Solar. Neste trabalho obtemos elementos próprios sintéticos para a região da família de Pallas, encontramos grupos dinâmicos e determinamos a significância estatística destes grupos. Estudamos a evolução dinâmica devida a perturbações planetárias e efeitos não gravitacionais das famílias e clumps identificados na região das famílias de Pallas e Hansa (Carruba 2010b). Estudamos regiões dinamicamente estáveis, que são surpreendentemente caracterizadas por um número muito baixo de asteroides, contrariamente a objetos de baixa inclinação que ocupam tudo a região dinamicamente viável. Identificamos duas areas caracterizadas por tempos de permanência de 100 milhões de anos o mais, quando a força Yarkovsky é considerada, com baixa densidade de asteroides. Obtemos elementos próprios sintéticos para 10865 objetos na região da família de Euphrosyne e identificamos famílias e clumps no domínio dos elementos próprios e frequências. Com relação a outros trabalhos sobre identificação de famílias na área, aqui nos investigamos o efeito que a rede local de ressonâncias seculares tem sobre a evolução dinâmica das famílias e clumps. Identificamos por primeira vez, novas populações de objetos em estados ressoantes de libração anti-alinhada de ν6 e anti-alinhada e alinhada de ν5. / Highly inclined asteroids are objects with sin(i) > 0.3. Among these asteroids we can distinguish between objects with inclinations lower than the center of the secular resonance ν6 = g−g6 and objects with higher inclinations. The current mechanisms of dynamical mobility cannot easily increase inclinations to value higher than that of the center of the ν6 resonance. The presence of high inclination objects may therefore be related to early stages of the Solar System. In this work we obtained synthetic proper elements for the region of the Pallas family, we found dynamical groups and determined the statistical significance of these groups. We studied the dynamic the dynamical evolution caused by planetary perturbations and non-gravitational effects of the families and clumps identified in the region of the Pallas and Hansa families (Carruba 2010b). We studied regions dynamically stable that on surprisingly characterized by a low number of asteroids, contrary to objects of lower inclinations that tend to occupy all the viable stable regions. We identified two areas characterized by permanence time of 100 Myr or more when the Yarkovsky force is considered, but with a small number density of bodies. We obtained synthetic proper elements for 10865 objects in the region of the Euphrosyne families and identify families and clumps in the domain of proper elements and frequencies. With respect to other work on family identification in the area, here we investigated the role that the local web of secular resonances has had on the dynamical evolution of families and clumps. We identify for the first time, new populations of objects inν6 anti-aligned libration and ν5 anti-aligned and aligned resonant states.

Thesis. 1976. Ph.D.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Earth and Planetary Sciences. / Microfiche copy available in Archives and Science. / Vita. / Bibliography: leaves 99-104. / Ph.D.

Thesis. 1976. M.S.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Earth and Planetary Sciences. / Microfiche copy available in Archives and Science. / Bibliography: leaves 60-63. / M.S.

Thesis. 1976. Ph.D.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Earth and Planetary Sciences. / Microfiche copy available in Archives and Science. / Bibliography: leaves [108]-[112]. / Part 1. Some implications of the Yarkovsky effect on the orbits of very small asteroids.--Part 2. Stable retrograde orbits outside the sphere of influence. / Ph.D.

We present an analysis of new and published data on P/2013 R3, the first asteroid detected while disintegrating. Thirteen discrete components are measured in the interval between UT 2013 October 01 and 2014 February 13. We determine a mean, pair-wise velocity dispersion among these components of Delta nu = 0.33. +/- 0.03 ms(-1) and find that their separation times are staggered over an interval of similar to 5 months. Dust enveloping the system has, in the first observations, a cross-section of. similar to 30 km(2) but fades monotonically at a rate consistent with the action of radiation pressure sweeping. The individual components exhibit comet-like morphologies and also fade except where secondary fragmentation is accompanied by the release of additional dust. We find only upper limits to the radii of any embedded solid nuclei, typically similar to 100-200 m (geometric albedo 0.05 assumed). Combined, the components of P/2013 R3 would form a single spherical body with a. radius of less than or similar to 400 m, which is our best estimate of the size of the precursor object. The observations are consistent with rotational disruption of a weak (cohesive strength of similar to 50 to 100 N m(-2)) parent body, similar to 400 m in radius. Estimated radiation (YORP) spin-up times of this parent are. less than or similar to 1 Myr, shorter than the collisional lifetime. If present, water ice sublimating at as little as 10-3 kg s(-1) could generate a torque on the parent body rivaling the YORP torque. Under conservative assumptions about the frequency of similar disruptions, the inferred asteroid debris production rate is greater than or similar to 10(3) kg s-1, which is at least 4% of the rate needed to maintain the Zodiacal Cloud.

Hubble Space Telescope observations of active asteroid 324P/La Sagra near perihelion show continued mass loss consistent with the sublimation of near-surface ice. Isophotes of the coma measured from a vantage point below the orbital plane are best matched by steady emission of particles having a nominal size. of. a similar to 100 mu m. The inferred rate of mass loss, dM(d)/dt similar to 0.2 kg s(-1), can be supplied by sublimation of water ice in thermal equilibrium with sunlight from an area as small as 930 m(2), corresponding to about 0.2% of the nucleus surface. Observations taken from a vantage point only 0.degrees 6. from the orbital plane of 324P set a limit to the velocity of ejection of dust in the direction perpendicular to the plane, V-perpendicular to < 1 m s(-1). Short-term photometric variations of the near-nucleus region, if related to rotation of the underlying nucleus, rule-out periods <= 3.8 hr and suggest that rotation probably does not play a central role in driving the observed mass loss. We estimate that, in the previous orbit, 324P lost about 4 x 10(7) kg in dust particles, corresponding to 6 x 10(-5) of the mass of a 550 m spherical nucleus of assumed density rho = 1000 kg m(-3). If continued, mass loss at this rate would limit the lifetime of 324P to similar to 1.6 x 10(4) orbits (about 10(5) years). To survive for the 100-400 Myr timescales corresponding to dynamical and collisional stability requires a duty cycle of 2 x 10(-4) <= f(d) <= 8 x 10(-4). Unless its time in orbit is overestimated by many orders of magnitude, 324P is revealed as a briefly active member of a vast population of otherwise dormant ice-containing asteroids.

Using the Wide Field Camera for the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT), we measure the near-infrared colors of near-Earth objects (NEOs) in order to put constraints on their taxonomic classifications. The rapid-response character of our observations allows us to observe NEOs when they are close to the Earth and bright. Here we present near-infrared color measurements of 86 NEOs, most of which were observed within a few days of their discovery, allowing us to characterize NEOs with diameters of only a few meters. Using machine-learning methods, we compare our measurements to existing asteroid spectral data and provide probabilistic taxonomic classifications for our targets. Our observations allow us to distinguish between S-complex, C/X-complex, D-type, and V-type asteroids. Our results suggest that the fraction of S-complex asteroids in the whole NEO population is lower than the fraction of ordinary chondrites in the meteorite fall statistics. Future data obtained with UKIRT will be used to investigate the significance of this discrepancy.

Small near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) (< 20 m) are interesting, because they are progenitors for meteorites in our terrestrial collection. The physical characteristics of these small NEAs are crucial to our understanding of the effectiveness of our atmosphere in filtering low-strength impactors. In the past, the characterization of small NEAs has been a challenge, because of the difficulty in detecting them prior to close Earth flyby. In this study, we physically characterized the 2 m diameter NEA 2015 TC25 using ground-based optical, near-infrared and radar assets during a close flyby of the Earth (distance 128,000 km) in 2015 October 12. Our observations suggest that its surface composition is similar to aubrites, a rare class of high-albedo differentiated meteorites. Aubrites make up only 0.14% of all known meteorites in our terrestrial meteorite collection. 2015 TC25 is also a very fast rotator with a period of 133 +/- 6 s. We combined the spectral and dynamical properties of 2015 TC25 and found the best candidate source body in the inner main belt to be the 70 km diameter E-type asteroid (44) Nysa. We attribute the difference in spectral slope between the two objects to the lack of regolith on the surface of 2015 TC25. Using the albedo of E-type asteroids (50%-60%) we refine the diameter of 2015 TC25 to 2 m, making it one of the smallest NEAs ever to be characterized.

We derived 90% confidence limits (CLs) on the interstellar number density (rho(CL)(IS)) of interstellar objects (ISOs; comets and asteroids) as a function of the slope of their size-frequency distribution (SFD) and limiting absolute magnitude. To account for gravitational focusing, we first generated a quasi-realistic ISO population to similar to 750 au from the Sun and propagated it forward in time to generate a steady state population of ISOs with heliocentric distance <50 au. We then simulated the detection of the synthetic ISOs using pointing data for each image and average detection efficiencies for each of three contemporary solar system surveys-Pan-STARRS1, the Mt. Lemmon Survey, and the Catalina Sky Survey. These simulations allowed us to determine the surveys' combined ISO detection efficiency under several different but realistic modes of identifying ISOs in the survey data. Some of the synthetic detected ISOs had eccentricities as small as 1.01, which is in the range of the largest eccentricities of several known comets. Our best CL of rho(CL)(SI) = 1.4 x 10(-4) au(-3) implies that the expectation that extra-solar systems form like our solar system, eject planetesimals in the same way, and then distribute them throughout the Galaxy, is too simplistic, or that the SFD or behavior of ISOs as they pass through our solar system is far from expectation.