Solar System Small-Body Demographics with the Palomar Transient Factory Survey
Data(s) |
2015
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Resumo |
Observational studies of our solar system's small-body populations (asteroids and comets) offer insight into the history of our planetary system, as these minor planets represent the left-over building blocks from its formation. The Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) survey began in 2009 as the latest wide-field sky-survey program to be conducted on the 1.2-meter Samuel Oschin telescope at Palomar Observatory. Though its main science program has been the discovery of high-energy extragalactic sources (such as supernovae), during its first five years PTF has collected nearly five million observations of over half a million unique solar system small bodies. This thesis begins to analyze this vast data set to address key population-level science topics, including: the detection rates of rare main-belt comets and small near-Earth asteroids, the spin and shape properties of asteroids as inferred from their lightcurves, the applicability of this visible light data to the interpretation of ultraviolet asteroid observations, and a comparison of the physical properties of main-belt and Jovian Trojan asteroids. Future sky-surveys would benefit from application of the analytical techniques presented herein, which include novel modeling methods and unique applications of machine-learning classification. The PTF asteroid small-body data produced in the course of this thesis work should remain a fertile source of solar system science and discovery for years to come. |
Formato |
application/pdf |
Identificador |
http://thesis.library.caltech.edu/8925/1/Thesis.pdf Waszczak, Adam (2015) Solar System Small-Body Demographics with the Palomar Transient Factory Survey. Dissertation (Ph.D.), California Institute of Technology. doi:10.7907/Z91G0J73. http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechTHESIS:05292015-134454898 <http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechTHESIS:05292015-134454898> |
Relação |
http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechTHESIS:05292015-134454898 http://thesis.library.caltech.edu/8925/ |
Tipo |
Thesis NonPeerReviewed |