Speaker
Description
Polarimetry is an effective tool for remote sensing of asteroid surfaces, mainly for assessing their albedo and surface texture, and searching for surface peculiarities. The main advantage of the polarimetric method of albedo determination is that albedo can be derived directly from polarimetric measurements using simple empirical relationships between polarimetric parameters and albedos. Accurate albedo estimates require polarimetric observations at phase angles above 20-30 deg, which is easily achievable for near-Earth asteroids. Available polarimetric observations of near-Earth asteroids have shown that even a single measurement of the polarization degree at a large phase angle can be sufficient to obtain a reliable albedo and distinguish between low, moderate and high albedo asteroid types. This is of exceptional value for studying potentially hazardous asteroids. We will review the achievements and problems of using polarimetry for studying asteroid surfaces.
