ESO/VLT/SPHERE Survey of D>100km Asteroids:

(16) Psyche

M.Viikinkoski, P. Vernazza, M. Marsset, J. Hanus, B. Carry, A. Drouard,

R. Fetick , F. Marchis, E. Podlewska, P. Bartczak, T. Santana-Ros, M.
Birlan , C. Dumas, M. Kaasalainen, B. Yang, J. Durech, L. Jorda, P.
Lamy, A. Vigan, T. Fusco, T. Michalowski, A. Marciniak, M. Pajuelo, P.
Michel, P. Tanga, J. Berthier, F. Vachier , J. Castillo-Rogez, O. Witasse,
F.Cipriani, E. Jehin, M. Ferrais
Psyche: General information
• Large (diameter ~226 km) M-type asteroid
• The target of NASA’s Psyche mission
• Previously observed with range-Doppler
radar, VLT/NaCo, and Keck

19/09/2018 2
New observations
●
5 epochs of high-res SPHERE/ZIMPOL AO
images
●
Distance 2.3 AU, 3.6 mas/pixel ≈6 km/pixel
●
Only the northern hemisphere visible (~50 %
of surface area)
●
Albedo variegation
19/09/2018 3
Data post-processing

Images deconvolved with the parametric

Moffat PSF
 SPHERE epoch 1

Elevation 71º, phase 6º

19/09/2018 5
 SPHERE epoch 2

Elevation 71º, phase 5º

19/09/2018 6
 SPHERE epoch 3

Elevation 73º, phase 3º

19/09/2018 7
 SPHERE epoch 4

Elevation 73º, phase 2º

19/09/2018 8
 SPHERE epoch 5

Elevation 78º, phase 9º

19/09/2018 9
Viikinkoski, M. et al.: (16) Psyche: A mesosiderite-like asteroid?
Submitted to A&A

19/09/2018 10
Shape model
●
SPHERE data combined with the older NaCo &
Keck AO, occultations, and lightcurves
●
Shape and albedo variegation modelled with the
ADAM software

Viikinkoski, M.; Kaasalainen, M.; Durech, J.: ADAM: a general method for
using various data types in asteroid reconstruction, A&A Vol 576, 2015.

19/09/2018 11
ADAM software: Overview
●
Fits a nonconvex parametric 3D shape model to
disk-resolved and/or disk-integrated data
●
Fast, gradient based optimization
●
Almost all data modes supported
●
Source code freely available

https://github.com/matvii/ADAM
19/09/2018 12
ADAM internals
●
Project 3D shape model to the observation plane
●
Calculate 2D Fourier transform of plane projected
model
●
Compare 2D FFT to the FT of the model
●
Calculate derivatives wrt parameters analytically
●
Optimize
https://github.com/matvii/ADAM
19/09/2018 13
ADAM internals
Why the 2D Fourier transform?
Why the 2D Fourier transform?
●
Data pre-processing not needed
●
Not so likely to get stuck at local minimums,
since no pixel fitting
●
Derivatives can be calculated analytically
●
System PSFs can be easily incorporated
Shape & albedo map

19/09/2018 18
 Results
• Density 3.99±0.26 g/cm3
• No moons were detected

Viikinkoski, M. et al.: (16) Psyche: A mesosiderite-like asteroid?

Submitted to A&A

19/09/2018 19
Summary
• Less dense than expected
• More observations needed:
– Southern hemisphere not well resolved
– Topography of northern hemisphere uncertain
– Interesting albedo variegation

19/09/2018 20