Jack Drummond, AFRL, Odell Reynolds, AFRL/RDSS, Miles Buckman, AFRL/RDSS
Keywords: Adaptive Optics, Angels, Sylvia and Romulus
Abstract:
The faint moon, Romulus, around the main belt asteroid (87) Sylvia was detected and followed over 10 nights in March and May of 2015, using adaptive optics and a laser guide star on the 3.5 m telescope at the SOR. Romulus was some 80 times fainter than V=12.5 Sylvia at 1.2 ?m. From these observations we are able to derive an orbit for the satellite, calculate the mass of Sylvia, and derive its density of 1.37±0.04 gm/cm3. These observations closely mimic a small man-made geosynchronous satellite approaching a larger one, and make our 3.5 m telescope the smallest ground-based telescope to ever image any asteroids moon.
Date of Conference: September 15-18, 2015
Track: Poster