Publication year: 2010
Source: Icarus, In Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available online 8 February 2010
Marina, Brozovic , Lance A.M., Benner , Christopher, Magri , Steven J., Ostro , Daniel J., Scheeres , …
Arecibo (2380 MHz, 12.6 cm) and Goldstone (8560 MHz, 3.5 cm) delay-Doppler radar images obtained in July and August of 2000 reveal that 4486 Mithra is an irregular, significantly bifurcated object, with a central valley ∼380 m deep and a long axis potentially exceeding 2 km. With its bimodal appearance, Mithra is a strong candidate for a contact binary asteroid. Sequences of Goldstone images spanning up to three hours per day show very little rotation and establish that Mithra is an unusually slow rotator. We used Goldstone and Arecibo data to estimate Mithra’s 3D shape and spin state. We obtain…
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