Asteroid 5535 Annefrank size, shape, and orientation: Stardust first results

• Published in: Journal of Geophysical Research - Planets Vol. 109; no. E2; pp. E02002 - n/a
• Main Authors: Duxbury, Thomas C., Newburn, Ray L., Acton, Charles H., Carranza, Eric, McElrath, Timothy P., Ryan, Robert E., Synnott, Stephen P., You, T. Han, Brownlee, Donald E., Cheuvront, Allan R., Adams, William R., Toro-Allen, Scott L., Freund, Sandra, Gilliland, Kevin V., Irish, Kelly J., Love, Charles R., McAllister, J. Greg, Mumaw, Susan J., Oliver, Thomas H., Perkins, David E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Geophysical Union 01-02-2004; Blackwell Publishing Ltd
• Subjects: Annefrank; Annefrank orientation; Annefrank size; asteroid; Asteroids and meteoroids; Comets and Small Bodies; Geodesy and Gravity; NASA Stardust mission; Orbital and rotational dynamics; Photogrammetry; Planetary geodesy and gravity; Planetology; Remote sensing; Solar System Objects
• ISSN: 0148-0227; 2156-2202
• DOI: 10.1029/2003JE002108

The NASA Discovery Stardust spacecraft flew by the main belt asteroid 5535 Annefrank at a distance of 3100 km and a speed of 7.4 km/s in November 2002 to test the encounter sequence developed for its primary science target, the comet 81P/Wild 2. During this testing, over 70 images of Annefrank were obtained, taken over a phase angle range from 40 to 140 deg. This viewing showed that Annefrank was at least 6.6 × 5.0 × 3.4 km in size (diameters), with its shortest dimension normal to its orbit plane. Annefrank is highly angular, with flat appearing surfaces, possibly planes formed when it was fractured off of a larger parent body. For the limited part of the surface seen, Annefrank resembles a triangular prism for the main body, with smaller, rounder bodies, possibly accreted through contact.