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N. E. B. Zellner, S. G. Gibbard (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory), F. Marchis, I. DePater (UC - Berkeley), M. J. Gaffey (UND - Grand Forks)
The Keck Observatory’s adaptive optics system has been used to observe Asteroid 4 Vesta during its 2003 closest approach to Earth. Broadband images (2.1 microns and 3.6 microns) and spectra (1.65 microns and 2.1 microns) were obtained and are presented here for the first time. After analysis that included sky subtraction, flat field corrections, and the elimination of bad pixels, a deconvolution program, MISTRAL, was applied to the images to account for the effects of the adaptive optics system. These images were then compared to the HST images (673 nm) presented by Thomas et al. (1997) and Binzel et al. (1997). Defined craters and regions of crater uplift are seen for the first time. Spectra were corrected for the solar flux and are compared to those published by Gaffey (1997). Spectra are consistent on both global and regional scales.
This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Dept. of Energy at the University of California/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under contract no. W-7405-Eng-48.
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 36 #2
© YEAR. The American Astronomical Soceity.