Small Main-Belt Asteroid Spectroscopic Survey
An asteroid spectral type is assigned to asteroids based on their emission spectrum, color, and sometimes Astronomical albedo, albedo. These types are thought to correspond to an asteroid's surface composition. For small bodies that are not planetary differentiation, internally differentiated, the surface and internal compositions are presumably similar, while large bodies such as Ceres (dwarf planet), Ceres and 4 Vesta, Vesta are known to have internal structure. Over the years, there has been a number of surveys that resulted in a set of different taxonomic systems such as the Tholen classification, Tholen, SMASS classification, SMASS and #Bus–DeMeo classification, Bus–DeMeo classifications. Taxonomic systems In 1975, astronomers Clark R. Chapman, David Morrison (astrophysicist), David Morrison, and Ben Zellner developed a simple taxonomic system for asteroids based on color, albedo, and spectral line, spectral shape. The three categories were labelled "C-type asteroid, C ...
[...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  

Asteroid
An asteroid is a minor planet of the inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter; they are rocky, metallic or icy bodies with no atmosphere. Of the roughly one million known asteroids the greatest number are located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, approximately 2 to 4 AU from the Sun, in the main asteroid belt. Asteroids are generally classified to be of three types: C-type, M-type, and S-type. These were named after and are generally identified with carbonaceous, metallic, and silicaceous compositions, respectively. The size of asteroids varies greatly; the largest, Ceres, is almost across and qualifies as a dwarf planet. The total mass of all the asteroids combined is only 3% that of Earth's Moon. The majority of main belt asteroids follow slightly elliptical, stable orbits, revolving in the same direction as the Earth and taking from three to six years to comple ...
[...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]