Asteroid (216) Kleopatra. Tests of the radar-derived shape model
Résumé
The shape model of Ostro et al. (\cite{ostro00}) for (216) Kleopatra - obtained from inversion of the radar data (Hudson & Ostro \cite{hudson94}) - is compared to the high resolution interferometric observations of the HST/FGS astrometer, and additionally to observed lightcurves and stellar occultations data. It appears that the radar nominal-model, while being in global agreement with these data, doesn't adequately reproduce all of them. In particular the flattening seems to be underestimated by ~ 20%. The HST/FGS observations should provide valuable constraints for determining a more refined shape model, since the model obtained from the radar data alone is subject to some uncertainty. Such a refined model of Kleopatra should provide valuable insights for explaining the formation of this interesting object, and the formation and evolution of binary asteroids in general.
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