Investigation of opposition effect
The study of surface properties of atmosphereless bodies from observations of light scattered by a surface at varying illumination and observation geometries is a traditional technique in Solar system remote sensing. Photometric observations at different phase angles indicate a nonlinear increase of disk-integrated brightness at small phase angles, so called opposition effect. Observations of the opposition phenomena for various kinds of Solar system bodies have a long history, whereas the understanding of their physical nature has progressed considerably only during the last two decades, in particular thanks to our investigations. Some results of our study can be found in the following papers: Shevchenko V. G., Belskaya I. N., Slyusarev I. G., Krugly Yu. N., Chiorny V. G., Gaftonyuk N. M., Donchev Z., Ivanova V., Ibrahimov M. A., Ehgamberdiev Sh. A., Molotov I. E.2012. Opposition effect of Trojan asteroids. Icarus, v. 217, p. 202-208. Shevchenko V.G., Chiorny V.G., Gaftonyuk N.M., Krugly Yu.N., Belskaya I.N., Tereschenko I.A., Velichko F.P. 2008. Asteroid observations at low phase angles. III. Opposition effect of dark asteroids. Icarus, v. 196, p. 601-611. Shevchenko V.G., Belskaya I.N., Krugly Yu.N., Chiorny V.G., Gaftonyuk N.M. 2002. Asteroid observations at low phase angles. II. 5 Astraea, 75 Eurynome, 77 Frigga, 105 Artemis, 119 Althaea, 124 Alkeste and 201 Penelope. Icarus, v. 155, 365-374. Belskaya I.N., Shevchenko V.G. 2000. Opposition effect of asteroids. Icarus 147, 94-105. At present we carry out the observational program on study of opposition effect of Trojans and Hilda group asteroids. The list of current targets is available in the section Observations . |