Broadband Photometry of the Potentially Hazardous Asteroid 329614 (2003 KU2)

ATel #4262; M. Hicks (JPL/Caltech), D. Dombroski (LACC), T. Davtyan (LACC), S. Teague (VVC), C. Strojia (VVC)
on 18 Jul 2012; 00:34 UT
Credential Certification: Michael D. Hicks (Michael.Hicks@jpl.nasa.gov)

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The near-Earth asteroid 329614 (2003 KU2) was discovered by A. F. Tubbiolo on May 05 2003 (MPEC 2003-K26). Due to its large size (D~1km) and Minimum Orbit Intersection Distance MOID=0.0285 AU, the object has been designated as a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (PHA) by the IAU Minor Planet Center. We took advantage of the PHA's excellent 2012 apparition to obtain 3 nights of time-resolved Bessel BVRI photometry at the JPL Table Mountain Observatory (TMO) 0.6-m telescope, as summarized in Table 1.

The rotationally averaged colors (B-R=1.250+/-0.022 mag; V-R=0.439+/-0.014 mag; R-I=0.275+/-0.017 mag) were found most compatible with a Sq-type spectral classification (Bus taxonomy), an association obtained through a comparison of our colors with the 1341 asteroid spectra in the SMASS II database (Bus & Binzel 2002) [ Figure 1 and Table 2]. Assuming a phase parameter G=0.15, which is typical for an S-Family asteroid, we measured an absolute magnitude in the Bessel R-band of H_R=17.18+/-0.01 mag and, with our V-R color, in the Bessel V-band of H_V = 17.61+/-0.02 mag.

We performed a rotational period search using standard Fourier techniques. Figure 2 plots chi-squared 2nd and 3rd-order Fourier model misfit as a function of assumed rotation period. Assuming a double-peaked lightcurve, we found a best-fit synodic period P = 3.278+/-0.005 hr, as shown in Figure 3 .

Copyright 2012. All rights reserved. The research described in this telegram was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The student participation was supported by the National Science Foundation under REU grant 0852088 to Cal State LA.

 
Table 1:   Observational circumstances. 
 
                               Solar 
   UT DATE       r     delta   Phase    V    Filters  OBSERVERS 
                [AU]    [AU]   [deg]  [mag] 
2012 07 06.41  1.120   0.136   38.7   15.1    BVRI    Davtyan, Dombroski 
2012 07 08.42  1.103   0.124   43.8   15.0    BVRI    Dombrowski, Davtyan 
2012 07 09.45  1.094   0.119   46.9   14.9      R     Teague, Strojia 
 
 
 
 
Table 2:  Best-fit SMASS II spectral analogs. 
 
                            TAXONOMIC CLASS 
MISFIT    OBJECT NAME       (THOLEN)  (BUS) 
0.350   4733 ORO                       Sq 
0.842   2873 Binzel                    Sq 
1.277   5242 Kenreimonin               Sq 
1.508   3903 Kliment Ohridski          Sq 
1.524    180 Garumna            S      Sq