Asteroid taxonomy and the distribution of the compositional types

Physical observations of minor planets documented in the TRIAD computer file are used to classify 752 objects into the broad compositional types C, S, M, E, R, and U (unclassifiable) according to the prescriptions adopted by Bowell et al. (1978). Diameters are computed from the photometric magnitude using radiometric and/or polarimetric data where available, or else from albedos characteristic of the indicated type. An analysis of the observational selection effects leads to tabulation of the actual number of asteroids, as a function of type and diameter, in each of 15 orbital element zones. For the whole main belt the population is 75% of type C, 15% of type S, and 10% of other types, with no belt-wide dependence of the mixing ratios on diameter. In some zones the logarithmic diameter-frequency relations are decidedly nonlinear. The relative frequency of S-type objects decreases smoothly outward through the main belt, with exponential scale length 0.5 AU. The rarer types show a more chaotic, but generally flatter, distribution over distance. Characteristic type distributions, contrasting with the background population, are found for the Eos, Koronis, Nysa and Themis families.