Asteroid Photometry


Figure 1. Lightcurve of Asteroid 7213 Conae

Figure 2. Lightcurve of Asteroid 2308 Schilt

Project Overview

This research was conducted during the Fall 2012 at Rose-Hulman. I joined Dr. Richard Ditteon's efforts on gathering and analyzing data from pictures of asteroids. I was able to successfully measure the lightcurve of asteroids 2308 Schilt using 143 of 163 data points and 7213 Conae using 107 of 124 data points. I also spent 10+ hours analyzing data from asteroids 1887 Virton, 560 Delila, and 7534 1995 UA7, but unfortunately failed to measure a good lightcurve from them. This research experience helped me understand that even if several hours are spent working on a problem, it does not always guarantee a good result.


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For more information on this research, check out our publication to the Minor Planet Bulletin:
Gary Simpson, Elena Chong, Michael Gerhardt, Sean Gorsky, Matthew Klaasse, Brian Kodalen, Faye Li, Luke Mader, Robert Moore, Rachel Vinson, Richard Ditteon. Minor Planet Bulletin, Vol 40, Number 3, A.D. 2013 July-September. URL