Photometric Observations of 16 Psyche seconds for approximately 6 hours each night.
Weather conditions during this week were making
Christie M. Johnson
University of North Dakota Observatory
1652 23rd St NE Emerado ND 58228
May 5 2022
Observations of 16 Psyche were conducted at
University of North Dakota’s Observatory near
Emerago, ND. Images were obtained over a span of
three non-consecutive days for approximately 6 hours
a night. After calibration, light curve wizard was used
to obtain phased plots to determine magnitude and
rotation period. The plot was analyzed and compared
with other studies to validate the known data.
Introduction
For years astronomers have been researching the
formation of celestial objects. One research focus is
the formation of planets, specifically studying the
metal core of planets to determine the process of
planet formation. NASA has recently announced a
mission to an asteroid named 16 Psyche. 16 Psyche is
the subject of interest in this mission, due to the fact
it is in our solar system and the density suggests it is
composed of metals rather than the carbon or
silicone-based objects in the asteroid belt. While
most other metal asteroids are small with undesirable
shapes, 16 Psyche is larger and is the best candidate
that has been seen of a planetesimal core (Elkins-
Tanton, 2018).
16 Psyche has a V mag of 11.21 and an estimated
diameter of approximately 247km, and a rotation
period of 5 years (Melillo, 1995). The rotation period
makes so we have the same light curve aspect every
five years, meaning that data throughout time should
show consistent results. The purpose of this study is
to compare results with previous studies and
determine if the results differ between them.
Methods
Observations of 16 Psyche were made over a three-
night period, April 7, 8, and 11. Data was collected at
the University of North Dakota Observatory
(47.9189° N, -97.3651° E) at altitude 238m,
observatory code 730. Images were taken using an
Alta Apogee U9000 camera with a focal length of
4135mm using a luminescence filter. Images were
taken every 6 minutes with an integration time of 7
imaging difficult due to blizzard conditions. Images
were calibrated using the program Astroimage J used
dark frames and bias frames to create the science
frame. Some images were unusable for reasons such
as wind or saturation from the moon. The images
were then taken to MPO Canopus for light curve
analysis. Since the asteroid crossed the meridian,
there were six separate sessions – one for each night
and orientation. Each session used MPO’s light curve
wizard to gather the appropriate measurements for
data analysis.
Results
The light curve analysis ran by Canopus shows the
rotation period as 4.196 ± 0.001h with an amplitude
of 0.22. The final image count was 80, and the RMS
is 1.83. The data gathered shows an average
magnitude of 11.9. This was after any outliers were
removed from the data sets. The light curves were
stacked together in a chart that includes the six
sessions of useable images. Figure 1 (below) contains
this master curve that illustrates the results generated
from using the light curve wizard.
Fig. 1: Light curve analysis final chart
Conclusion
Observations of asteroid 16 Psyche determine that the
rotational period is 4.196 ± 0.001 h with an amp of
0.22, and an average magnitude of 11.9. These
figures are within range to confirm and agree with the
current literature. For future studies, more images
over a long period of time would solidify data results.
Figures might be within a margin of error, therefore
having more data points would lead to more
conclusive results.
 Acknowledgements

Thank you to the University of North Dakota’s Space

Studies Department for the resources used in this
study.

References
Castro-Chacón, Gil-Hutton, R., Vélez, J. R., & Reyes-
Ruiz, M. (2022). Polarimetric rotational curve of
M-type asteroid (16) Psyche. Planetary and
Space Science, 213.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pss.2022.105428

Elkins-Tanton, L. T. (2018). Asteroid 16 psyche: NASA's

14th discovery mission. Elements, 14(1),68–68.
https://doi.org/10.2138/gselements.14.1.68

Lebofsky, L. A., & Jones, T. D. (1989, June). The nature

of low albedo asteroids from 3-mum multi-color
photometry and spectrophotometry. In Bulletin
of the American Astronomical Society (Vol. 21,
p. 966). Night 2 – April 8/9 2022
Melillo, F. J. (1995). Photoelectric Photometry of 16
Psyche and 40 Harmonia. Minor Planet Bulletin, 22, 42

Appendix

The images below were comp stars used in this study.

Night 3 – April 11/12 2022

Night one – April 7/8 2022