NEOMOD 3: The Debiased Size Distribution of Near Earth Objects

NEOMOD 3: The Debiased Size Distribution of Near Earth Objects

29 Apr 2024 | David Nesvorný, David Vokrouhlický, Frank Shelly, Rogerio Deienno, William F. Bottke, Carson Fuls, Robert Jedicke, Shantanu Naidu, Steven R. Chesley, Paul W. Chodas, Davide Farnocchia, Marco Delbo
The paper presents an updated model, NEOMOD3, for the size distribution of Near Earth Objects (NEOs) by incorporating visible albedo information from the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) and extending the orbital and absolute magnitude distribution model, NEOMOD2. The debiased albedo distribution of NEOs is approximated by the sum of two Rayleigh distributions with scale parameters \( p_{V,\text{dark}} \simeq 0.03 \) and \( p_{V,\text{bright}} \simeq 0.17 \). The study finds that smaller NEOs tend to have higher albedos than larger NEOs, likely due to the size-dependent sampling of different main belt sources. Using the absolute magnitude distribution from NEOMOD2 and the debiased albedo distribution, the authors construct the debiased size distribution of NEOs. They estimate that there are approximately 830 NEOs with diameters greater than 1 km and 20,000 NEOs with diameters greater than 140 meters. The new model, NEOMOD3, is available through the NEOMOD Simulator, which can generate user-defined samples of NEO orbits, sizes, and albedos. The paper discusses the biases in WISE observations, including thermal infrared bias and orbital bias, and compares the results of the simple and complex models to highlight their strengths and limitations.The paper presents an updated model, NEOMOD3, for the size distribution of Near Earth Objects (NEOs) by incorporating visible albedo information from the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) and extending the orbital and absolute magnitude distribution model, NEOMOD2. The debiased albedo distribution of NEOs is approximated by the sum of two Rayleigh distributions with scale parameters \( p_{V,\text{dark}} \simeq 0.03 \) and \( p_{V,\text{bright}} \simeq 0.17 \). The study finds that smaller NEOs tend to have higher albedos than larger NEOs, likely due to the size-dependent sampling of different main belt sources. Using the absolute magnitude distribution from NEOMOD2 and the debiased albedo distribution, the authors construct the debiased size distribution of NEOs. They estimate that there are approximately 830 NEOs with diameters greater than 1 km and 20,000 NEOs with diameters greater than 140 meters. The new model, NEOMOD3, is available through the NEOMOD Simulator, which can generate user-defined samples of NEO orbits, sizes, and albedos. The paper discusses the biases in WISE observations, including thermal infrared bias and orbital bias, and compares the results of the simple and complex models to highlight their strengths and limitations.
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[slides] NEOMOD 3%3A The debiased size distribution of Near Earth Objects | StudySpace