Dr Heloise Stevance

Abstract:

Context. The potentially hazardous asteroid (PHA) (357439) 2004 BL86 grazed Earth on January 26, 2015 at a distance of about 1.2 million km. This favorable geometry allowed observing it to derive its physical and dynamical parameters. (357439) 2004 BL86 was previously estimated to be a 500-m body. We study it also considering possible mechanisms that might mitigate the effect of asteroids that might become dangerous for Earth. Aims. Physical and dynamical investigations of this peculiar object were performed to be able to characterize this object. Methods. We used spectral observations obtained in the visible (V) using the Isaac Newton Telescope and in the near-infrared (NIR) using the InfraRed Telescope Facility. A complementary photometric survey during two nights was also provided by the Astronomical Observatory Cluj-Feleacu station in Romania. We anlyzed the data using reliable mathematical tools that were previously published under the acronym M4AST. Results. VNIR spectral observations classify (357439) 2004 BL86 as V-type asteroid. The mineralogical analysis reveals its similarities to howardite-eucrite-diogenite meteorites. The band analysis reveals that the object is more similar to a eucritic and howarditic composition, and that it originated from the crust of a large parent body. The analysis yields a mineralogical solution of Wo17Fs39 with an error bar of 4%. Based on the average value of the thermal albedo for V-type objects, its diameter was re-estimated to a value of 290 ± 30 m. The dynamical analysis shows a chaotical behavior of (357439) 2004 BL86. The statistics on meteorite falls show that (357439) 2004 BL86 does not appear to significantly contribute to the current howardite-eucrite-diogenite meteorite flux. For the two photometrical observing runs the following values of the rotational period and peak-to-peak amplitude were estimated for the light curves: 2.637 ± 0.024 h, 0.105 ± 0.007 mag, and 2.616 ± 0.061 h, 0.109 ± 0.018 mag, respectively.