First Results from the Rapid-response Spectrophotometric Characterization of Near-Earth Objects Using RATIR

Abstract

As part of our multi-observatory, multifilter campaign, we present r–i color observations of 82 near-Earth objects (NEOs) obtained with the reionization and transients infrared camera (RATIR) instrument on the 1.5 m robotic telescope at the San Pedro Martir’s National Observatory in Mexico. Our project is particularly focused on rapid-response observations of small (≲850 m) NEOs. The rapid response and the use of spectrophotometry allows us to constrain the taxonomic classification of NEOs with high efficiency. Here we present the methodology of our observations and our result, suggesting that the ratio of C-type to S-type asteroids in a size range of ∼30–850 m is 1.1, which is in accordance with our previous results. We also find that 10% of all NEOs in our sample are neither C- nor S-type asteroids