The following document lists the file abstract/HLARSON_ASTEROID.abs
from catalogue VI/111.
A plain copy of the file
(without headers/trailers) may be downloaded.
The objective of this and a companion ISO proposal (Search for Hydrated Minerals Around O-rich Red Supergiants) is to investigate the origin of preterrestrial hydrated silicates in a broad cosmochemical context. Here we propose to acquire the best high resolution, near-IR spectra of the two largest asteroids (1 Ceres and 2 Pallas) to permit detailed spectrochemical analyses of trace volatile components in their surface minerals. In order to place their detailed mineralogy into a broader context, we also propose to acquire moderate resolution observations of smaller objects in Ceres' spectral class and hydrated asteroids assigned to other spectral classes. The results may reveal the identity of the original nebular condensates and their possible links to interstellar grain compositions. The spectra needed for this study cannot be obtained at the best ground-based and airborne observatories because of interference from telluric absorptions. Only ISO provides an unobstructed view of the 2.4-4.0 micron spectral region at sufficient resolving power and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) to reveal all diagnostic spectral features that can possibly be obtained in remote observations.