Template to create a scientific poster

1
Examining the Relationship Between Period vs.
Diameter of Asteroids
Nicholas Powers and Anthony Smith SUNY Oswego /
National Central University
Introduction The Palomar Transient Factory (PTF)
is an astronomy project located at CalTech in
California that is centered around the P48
telescope. It consists of a 48 arc-second field
of view and 11 working CCD chips at a resolution
of 1 arc-second per pixel. The data collected
consists of both numerical catalogs and images.
The collected data can be used to detect
non-static objects such as asteroids.
Discussion

• Methods
• Read in data from the PTF (figure 2)
• Sorted the objects between moving and stationary
  between separate catalogs (figure 3)
• Read in data from the Minor Planet Center (MPC)
  for the corresponding dates collected from the
  PTF
• Compared the PTF moving objects to the known
  objects of the MPC data.
• Output files for each matching object.
• Used a python module to analyze files and output
  light curves and data about the period. (figure
  4)
• After determining acceptable objects, used the
  MPC database to gather information necessary to
  calculate approximate object diameter.

The output graph shows that, when laid over the
Masiero et. Al. figure, our confirmed objects
fall below the spin barrier as expected. Due to
the large amount of errors, many known objects
could not be used for our particular data set but
as more data is analyzed, more objects will be
recognized and graphed.
Figure 4 Lightcurve output
Results Once the period and diameter were
determined for the acceptable objects, a graph of
the two was created (figure 5). The axis of the
graph were set to be the same as those in the
graph of the Masiero et. Al. paper such that a
comparison could be made. (figure 6)
Conclusion After six weeks of work learning
python and writing the program, we have analyzed
and produced a graph for one data set. In the
future, the programs written can be used to
analyze large volumes of data such that a more
densely populated graph can be created and
compared to the Masier et. Al. paper.
Purpose The purpose of this project was to
analyze the data from the telescope to verify the
relationship between period of rotation and
diameter of the asteroids. Below is a graph from
a paper by Masiero et. al. 2009 shows the
relationship between the period of asteroids and
their diameter. As shown in the graph, there is
a shelf above which we do not see asteroids.
This means that there is a relationship between
asteroid size and rotation speed a large
asteroid can only spin so fast before the
structure becomes compromised and the object
breaks apart. Our goal is to recreate the graph
from Masiero et. Al. with more data points so
that a better understanding of the
period-diameter relationship can be determined.
References The Thousand Asteroid Light Curve
Survey Masiero et. Al. 2009
Figure 5 Final Results
Acknowledgements Office of International
Programs, SUNY Oswego Dr. Shashi M. Kanbur Dr.
Wing-Huen Ip and Chan-Kao Rex Chang National
Central University Graduate institute of
Astronomy, Jhongli, Taiwan National Science
Foundation's Office of International Science and
Engineering award number 1065093 Office of
International Programs, NCU
Figure 2 Graph of all objects in one catalog
Figure 6 Final graph (light blue points) over
Masiero et. Al.
Figure 3 Moving objects for one catalog
Figure 1 Graph by Masiero et. Al.