Is this project an undergraduate, graduate, or faculty project?
Graduate
Project Type
individual
Campus
Daytona Beach
Authors' Class Standing
Jarrett Dieterle, Graduate student
Lead Presenter's Name
Jarrett Dieterle
Lead Presenter's College
DB College of Arts and Sciences
Faculty Mentor Name
Dr. Ashley Kehoe
Abstract
The Veritas asteroid family, located in the outer main belt, is believed to have formed from the catastrophic breakup of a parent body approximately 8.3 million years ago (e.g., Nesvorný et al., 2003). Larger fragments remained in the main belt, while smaller particles evolved inward under radiation forces, forming a toroidal dust structure observable in infrared data as paired bands. Previous studies (e.g., Dermott et al., 2001) have shown that these bands can be linked to their parent families and modeled from their initial disruptions. We propose that the 10° dust bands associated with Veritas may record evidence of a much more recent (~few hundred thousand years ago) secondary disruption. To investigate this, we reprocessed data from the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) using Fourier-filtering techniques to isolate fine-structure components of the zodiacal cloud. This filtering enhances faint structural variations, allowing us to determine the longitudinal variation of the bands around the sky. The pattern of this intensity variation is consistent with a recent secondary breakup within the Veritas family. Here we show how the variation of this structure around the sky presents evidence of a possible, recent, secondary disruption within the band. Constraining this spatial variation of the intensity of the bands will help place constraints on the orbital elements of the material producing the secondary structure, as well as the age of the disruption. These parameters serve as inputs to dynamical evolution models aimed at reproducing the observed morphology, offering preliminary evidence that the Veritas family experienced a second, more recent catastrophic event.
Did this research project receive funding support (Spark, SURF, Research Abroad, Student Internal Grants, Collaborative, Climbing, or Ignite Grants) from the Office of Undergraduate Research?
No
Numerical Modeling of a Secondary Breakup in the Veritas Asteroid Family
The Veritas asteroid family, located in the outer main belt, is believed to have formed from the catastrophic breakup of a parent body approximately 8.3 million years ago (e.g., Nesvorný et al., 2003). Larger fragments remained in the main belt, while smaller particles evolved inward under radiation forces, forming a toroidal dust structure observable in infrared data as paired bands. Previous studies (e.g., Dermott et al., 2001) have shown that these bands can be linked to their parent families and modeled from their initial disruptions. We propose that the 10° dust bands associated with Veritas may record evidence of a much more recent (~few hundred thousand years ago) secondary disruption. To investigate this, we reprocessed data from the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) using Fourier-filtering techniques to isolate fine-structure components of the zodiacal cloud. This filtering enhances faint structural variations, allowing us to determine the longitudinal variation of the bands around the sky. The pattern of this intensity variation is consistent with a recent secondary breakup within the Veritas family. Here we show how the variation of this structure around the sky presents evidence of a possible, recent, secondary disruption within the band. Constraining this spatial variation of the intensity of the bands will help place constraints on the orbital elements of the material producing the secondary structure, as well as the age of the disruption. These parameters serve as inputs to dynamical evolution models aimed at reproducing the observed morphology, offering preliminary evidence that the Veritas family experienced a second, more recent catastrophic event.