29 Apr 2024 | David Nesvorný¹, David Vokrouhlický², Frank Shelly³, Rogerio Deienno¹, William F. Bottke¹, Carson Fuls³, Robert Jedicke⁴, Shantanu Naidu⁵, Steven R. Chesley⁵, Paul W. Chodas⁵, Davide Farnocchia⁵, Marco Delbo⁶
The paper presents NEOMOD3, an updated model for the orbital and absolute magnitude distribution of Near Earth Objects (NEOs), incorporating visible albedo information from the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). The model uses a debiased albedo distribution approximated by the sum of two Rayleigh distributions with scale parameters p_V,dark ≈ 0.03 and p_V,bright ≈ 0.17. The model estimates 830 ± 60 NEOs with diameters D > 1 km and 20,000 ± 2,000 NEOs with D > 140 m. The model combines the absolute magnitude distribution from NEOMOD2 with visible albedo data from WISE to obtain the size distribution of NEOs. The model accounts for the size-dependent sampling of different main belt sources and the thermal infrared bias. The results show that smaller NEOs have higher albedos on average, which is likely due to the size-dependent sampling of different main belt sources. The model also considers the orbital distribution of NEOs and the impact flux on the Earth. The results are consistent with previous studies and provide a more accurate estimate of the size distribution of NEOs. The model is available via the NEOMOD Simulator, which can be used to generate user-defined samples of orbits, sizes, and albedos from the model. The paper discusses the implications of the results for planetary defense and future telescopic surveys.The paper presents NEOMOD3, an updated model for the orbital and absolute magnitude distribution of Near Earth Objects (NEOs), incorporating visible albedo information from the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). The model uses a debiased albedo distribution approximated by the sum of two Rayleigh distributions with scale parameters p_V,dark ≈ 0.03 and p_V,bright ≈ 0.17. The model estimates 830 ± 60 NEOs with diameters D > 1 km and 20,000 ± 2,000 NEOs with D > 140 m. The model combines the absolute magnitude distribution from NEOMOD2 with visible albedo data from WISE to obtain the size distribution of NEOs. The model accounts for the size-dependent sampling of different main belt sources and the thermal infrared bias. The results show that smaller NEOs have higher albedos on average, which is likely due to the size-dependent sampling of different main belt sources. The model also considers the orbital distribution of NEOs and the impact flux on the Earth. The results are consistent with previous studies and provide a more accurate estimate of the size distribution of NEOs. The model is available via the NEOMOD Simulator, which can be used to generate user-defined samples of orbits, sizes, and albedos from the model. The paper discusses the implications of the results for planetary defense and future telescopic surveys.