21 Lutetia: Groundbased Near-infrared Spectroscopy Prior The Rosetta Flyby
Résumé
The Roseta mission flyby of the asteroid 21 Lutetia was scheduled for July 10, 2010 and the event was accomplished with a brilliant success. 21 Lutetia has an "estimated'' diameter of (98.3 ± 5.9) km and is the largest body in the main-belt ever visited until now by a space mission. The asteroid is located in the inner part of the main belt, in an orbit with low eccentricity and inclination (a=2.4348 a.u., e=0.16, i=3°.06). The large amount of colors and spectral data of Lutetia, and the polarimetric and radiometric albedoes are giving puzzling results, with non-unique solution of the asteroid taxonomy.