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Paper: Photometry of Near Earth Asteroids at McDonald Observatory
Volume: 352, New Horizons in Astronomy: Frank N. Bash Symposium 2005
Page: 273
Authors: Ries, J.G.; Varadi, F.; Barker, E.S.; Shelus, P.J.
Abstract: The McDonald Observatory Near Earth Object (NEO) group has been involved in confirmation and follow-up efforts since 1995. Expanding this program from astrometry to astrophysics, we are attempting to derive refined absolute magnitudes and rotational periods for Near Earth Asteroids including potentially hazardous objects. We have obtained lightcurves for 2002 EZ11, 2001 CC21, 2003 UV11, 65803 (1996 GT), and 2003 SS84. We were able to determine rotational periods for 2002 EZ11 and 2001 CC21 and identified a short period brightness variation superimposed on a longer trend for the other minor planets. The rotational periods were determined using Singular Spectrum Analysis, which has proven to perform quite well on short, noisy time series. 2003 SS84 and 65803 (1996 GT) were also observed at Arecibo and Goldstone providing a comparison for our results. This research is funded by NASA's NEO Observation Program Grants NAG5-10183 and NAG5-1330.
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