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| Flora family | |
|---|---|
| Name | Flora family |
| Type | asteroid family |
| Orbital region | Inner asteroid belt |
| Largest member | 8 Flora |
Flora family
The Flora family is a populous asteroid family in the inner asteroid belt associated with the large asteroid 8 Flora and studied in planetary science, celestial mechanics, meteoritics, and observational astronomy. Research on the family involves scientists at institutions such as the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, European Space Agency, NASA, MIT, and Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, and observations using facilities like the Hubble Space Telescope, Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Arecibo Observatory, Keck Observatory, and Very Large Telescope. Studies connect the family to meteorite collections such as the H-chondrite group and to missions including OSIRIS-REx, Hayabusa, and Dawn.
The family was identified through hierarchical clustering methods first applied by researchers at Cleveland-based observatories and groups including the Minor Planet Center and astronomers associated with Heidelberg Observatory and Yerkes Observatory. Early work by teams at Harvard College Observatory, Royal Greenwich Observatory, Observatoire de Paris, and scientists like those from Ohio State University used proper elements from catalogs maintained by Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the International Astronomical Union to isolate a concentration near the orbital parameters of 8 Flora. The naming convention follows the practice of naming families after a prominent member cataloged by the Catalogue of Minor Planet Names and recorded in databases curated by the Minor Planet Center and NASA Planetary Data System.
Members occupy low-inclination, low-eccentricity orbits in the inner main belt between the ν6 secular resonance region and the 3:1 mean-motion resonance with Jupiter. Typical semimajor axes cluster around that of 8 Flora and are described using proper orbital elements derived by teams at University of Pisa, University of Barcelona, University of Tokyo, and the South African Astronomical Observatory. Long-term integrations using numerical integrators like Mercury (software), and performed on supercomputers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and NASA Advanced Supercomputing reveal dynamical diffusion influenced by the Yarkovsky effect, close encounters with massive asteroids such as 1 Ceres, 2 Pallas, 4 Vesta, and perturbations from resonances cataloged by the Astronomical Almanac. Surveys from Pan-STARRS, Sloan Digital Sky Survey, and Catalina Sky Survey have refined family membership lists maintained at the Planetary Science Institute.
Photometric and spectroscopic campaigns using instruments at Palomar Observatory, Subaru Telescope, Gemini Observatory, and European Southern Observatory show Flora family members typically have moderate albedos measured by NEOWISE and reflectance spectra similar to S-type asteroids classified under taxonomies developed by G. E. Hale, David J. Tholen, and E. F. Tedesco. Lightcurve analyses performed by observers affiliated with Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers, Minor Planet Center, and university groups at University of Arizona and Clemson University provide rotation periods, shapes, and binary detections. Radar observations from Arecibo Observatory and Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex have constrained sizes and surface roughness for some larger members including 8 Flora, whose diameter and mass estimates have been refined with thermal modeling by teams at University of Bern and Southwest Research Institute.
Reflectance spectra link many members to the stony S-complex defined in the taxonomic schemes by Tholen taxonomy and SMASS classification, and to meteoritic analogs such as ordinary chondrites studied by laboratories at Smithsonian Institution, Natural History Museum, London, and Lunar and Planetary Institute. Mineralogical analyses reference olivine and pyroxene abundances calibrated against experimental datasets from United States Geological Survey petrology groups and isotope laboratories at Caltech and University of Chicago. Space weathering effects modeled by researchers at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and Imperial College London help explain spectral reddening trends observed by Spitzer Space Telescope and ground-based spectrometers.
Dynamical and collisional models developed by groups at University of California, Berkeley, Northwestern University, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, and University of Toronto indicate the family formed from a catastrophic disruption event of a progenitor body, with subsequent evolution driven by non-gravitational forces like the Yarkovsky/YORP effects studied by teams at University of Pisa and Aalborg University. Chronology constraints use crater counts on analog asteroids observed by missions such as NEAR Shoemaker and analyses of meteorite exposure ages performed at University of New Mexico laboratories. Interactions with resonances cataloged by Kozai mechanism studies and secular dynamics investigations at Princeton University and University of California, Santa Cruz explain diffusion of fragments into near-Earth object populations sampled by surveys including LINEAR and Spacewatch.
The largest member associated with the grouping is 8 Flora, which has been the subject of targeted studies by teams at Observatoire de Paris and Institut de Mécanique Céleste et de Calcul des Éphémérides. Other significant members identified in catalogs maintained by the Minor Planet Center and analyzed in publications from Icarus (journal), Astronomy & Astrophysics, and The Astronomical Journal include numerous named asteroids observed by citizen science networks coordinated by Zooniverse and professional sky surveys such as Gaia and WISE. Substructures within the family revealed by clustering analyses performed at Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, and Georgia Institute of Technology point to secondary cratering events and dynamical groupings analogous to families like those of Eunomia, Koronis, Themis, and Vesta. Studies linking family fragments to meteorite fall records curated by National Museum of Natural History inform understanding of material transfer from the inner main belt to Earth-crossing trajectories cataloged by NEOWISE and the Center for Near Earth Object Studies.
Category:Asteroid families