Extended photometric survey of near-Earth objects

Abstract

Context. The near-Earth objects (NEOs), whose proximity makes them the most accessible bodies in the Solar System, allow us to sample asteroids from tens of kilometers down to objects of a few meters in size. However, while the physical properties for the largest bodies are mostly known, we have very little physical information regarding the small NEOs. These objects today represent the overall majority among the ~2500 new discoveries each year, but they are usually only bright enough to be observable during their close approaches. Aims. Our aim was to extend our survey that started in 2015 on the NEO population, using ground-based observations to characterize the fainter (and typically smaller) NEOs observable each night. Methods. We performed BVRIz photometry of NEOs, making use of the DOLORES instrument at the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG, La Palma, Spain) and the Asiago Schmidt telescope (Italy), in order to derive visible color indexes and the taxonomic classification for each target in our sample. Results. We taxonomically classified 51 new NEOs for the first time. Together with data obtained in our previous work and collected by other surveys available online, we analyzed an extended sample of 1081 individual NEOs. While the overall majority of them belong to the S-complex, our analysis of the taxonomic distribution found a larger contribution for dark bodies going toward larger H, suggesting that they could be more abundant among the fainter NEOs. Moreover, we find an interesting correlation between semi-major axis and diameter, which could be in part related to the Yarkovsky effect. Rapid characterization of the fainter NEO population shortly after their discovery will be crucial in the future, before those bodies become too faint to be observed, or lost forever.