FAUVAUD , S.

The study of the physical properties of asteroids, spin and 3-D shape, is the first step in understanding their formation and the mechanisms that dictate their evolution. The 3-D shape is indeed required to compute precisely the density, the only quantity that tells us about the internal structure from remote sensing, which is at the crux of...

Mutual event observations between the two components of 90 Antiope were carried out in 2007-2008. The pole position was refined to λ = 199.5 ± 0.5° and β = 39.8 ± 5° in J2000 ecliptic coordinates, leaving intact the physical solution for the components, assimilated to two perfect Roche ellipsoids, and derived after the 2005 mutual event season...

Context. Families of asteroids generated by the collisional fragmentation of a common parent body have been identified using clustering methods of asteroids in their proper orbital element space. However, there is growing evidence that some of the real families are larger than the corresponding cluster of objects in orbital elements, and there...

In understanding the composition and internal structure of asteroids, their density is perhaps the most diagnostic quantity. We aim here at characterizing the surface composition, mutual orbit, size, mass, and density of the small main-belt binary asteroid (939) Isberga. For that, we conduct a suite of multi-technique observations, including...

Astronomy and Astrophysics, v. 451, p. 999-1008, 2006. http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20053841

The population of large 100+ km asteroids is thought to be primordial. As such, they are the most direct witnesses of the early history of our Solar System available. Those among them with satellites allow study of the mass, and hence density and internal structure. We study here the dynamical, physical, and spectral properties of the triple...

Context: BL Cam is an extreme metal-deficient field high-amplitude SX Phe-type variable where a very complex frequency spectrum is detected, with a number of independent nonradial modes excited, unusual among the high-amplitude pulsators in the Lower Classical Instability Strip. Aims: An extensive and detailed study has been carried out to...

Context. Short-period high-amplitude pulsating stars of Population I (delta Sct stars) and II (SX Phe variables) exist in the lower part of the classical (Cepheid) instability strip. Most of them have very simple pulsational behaviours, only one or two radial modes being excited. Nevertheless, BL Cam is a unique object among them, being an...

The recent estimates of the 3D shape of the M/Xe-type triple asteroid system (216) Kleopatra indicated a density of ∼5 g cm −3 , which is by far the highest for a small Solar System body. Such a high density implies a high metal content as well as a low porosity which is not easy to reconcile with its peculiar "dumbbell" shape. Given the...

To interpret adaptive-optics observations of (216) Kleopatra, we need to describe an evolution of multiple moons orbiting an extremely irregular body and include their mutual interactions. Such orbits are generally non-Keplerian and orbital elements are not constants. Consequently, we used a modified N -body integrator, which was significantly...

The larger number of models of asteroid shapes and their rotational states derived by the lightcurve inversion give us better insight into both the nature of individual objects and the whole asteroid population. With a larger statistical sample we can study the physical properties of asteroid populations, such as main-belt asteroids or...

Context. Asteroid (22) Kalliope is the second largest M-type asteroid in the main belt and is orbited by a satellite, Linus. Whereas the mass of Kalliope is already well constrained thanks to the presence of a moon, its volume is still poorly known, leading to uncertainties on its bulk density and internal structure.Aims. We aim to refine the...