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L. Soderblom (USGS), D. Boice (SWRI), D. Britt (U. of Kentucky), R. Brown (U. of Arizona), B. Buratti, J. Hicks, M. Hillier, R. Lee (JPL), R. Meier (U. of Hawaii), J. Nelson (JPL), T. Oberst (DLR), A. Owen (U. of Hawaii), W. Rivkin, A. Sandel (U. of Arizona), N. Stern (SWRI), R. Thomas (DLR), Yelle (Boston University)
The Miniature Integrated Camera Spectrometer (MICAS) on Deep Space 1 is a compact, low power, multichannel imaging spectrometer. Its four sensors, which share a single 10 cm diameter telescope, include a 1024 X 1024 CCD camera, a 256 X 256 active pixel sensor camera, a UV spectrometer covering the 80-185 nm spectral range, and an infrared spectrometer sensitive to the 1200 to 2400 nm range. During the Deep Space 1 flyby of 9969 Braille (1992 KD), measurements were obtained in the two cameras and in the IR spectrometer.
A dozen IR spectra were obtained 15 minutes after the spacecraft's closest approach to the asteroid, when it was at a range of about 14,000 km, and at a solar phase angle of about 90 degrees. A combined visual-IR spectrum, spanning the wavelength range between 440 and 2400 nm, was constructed from MICAS IR data and ground-based telescopic observations of Braille obtained by the Deep Space 1 Science Team. The spectrum will be compared to S, V, and Q type asteroids, and to several classes of terrestrial meteorites.
The best resolution images of Braille, obtained by the CCD camera a few seconds before the IR spectra, show that the longest dimension of the asteroid is at least 2.1 km. Groundbased lightcurves obtained by the Deep Space 1 MICAS team suggest that the ratio of its long axis to its short axis is at least 2:1.