Re: Different flash period for 95 58B?

Matthew Francey (mdf@angoss.com)
Tue, 16 Jan 1996 04:12:56 GMT

ScubaLee@aol.com (Ron Lee):

>[0.49s vs. 1.01s] Why the apparent difference? 

aspect change during the pass?  the real period is probably the 1.01s
(or some other multiple of 0.49s).  during the 0.49s portion, you were
counting flashes off some surface that you could no longer see when you
timed the 1.01s period -- the sun->object->you geometry wasn't Just Right
any longer.

this brings up a small question:  asteroid observers can determine, to some
extent, the spin axis of the body by digesting light curve data acquired
under different viewing geometries.  has this been attempted for objects
in earth orbit?  would it even be useful to do?