NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Back to Results
New techniques for determining sizes of satellites and asteroids.It is pointed out that until very recently not even a crude idea of the sizes was available for any but the five brightest satellites and, more marginally, the three brightest asteroids. Attention is given to three new techniques which are yielding radii for dozens of small objects and which, by virtue of their independence of angular size, are capable of extension to even smaller and fainter objects. The first new technique, and by far the most precise, is to derive the radius, and in many cases the shape as well, from timings of an occultation of a star by the small body. Both of the other new techniques are based on methods of determining surface reflectivities, since once the geometric albedo is known, the radius can be determined from the brightness.
Document ID
19730047273
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Morrison, D.
(Hawaii, University Honolulu, Hawaii, United States)
Date Acquired
August 7, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 1973
Publication Information
Publication: Comments on Modern Physics
Subject Category
Space Sciences
Accession Number
73A32075
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NGL-12-001-057
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

Available Downloads

There are no available downloads for this record.
No Preview Available