On the calibration of the polarimetric slope - albedo relation for asteroids: Work in progress

• Main Authors: A. Cellino, R. Gil-Hutton
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Accademia Peloritana dei Pericolanti 2011-09-01
• Series: Atti della Accademia Peloritana dei Pericolanti : Classe di Scienze Fisiche, Matematiche e Naturali
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1478/C1V89S1P022

Asteroid polarimetry is known to be an excellent tool to derive information on the geometric albedo of these objects. This is made possible by the existence of a relation between the albedo and the morphology of the curve which describes the variation of the degree of linear polarization of asteroid light as a function of the illumination conditions. A major problem is that the calibration of the commonly accepted form of the polarization - albedo relation includes numerical coefficients which are affected by fairly high uncertainties. Following some recommendations issued by IAU Commission 15, we are trying to improve the albedo - polarization relation by taking advantage of new polarimetric data obtained in dedicated observation campaigns. We present here some very preliminary results.