MASS AND DENSITY OF THE B-TYPE ASTEROID (702) ALAUDA

Abstract

Observations with the adaptive optics system on the Very Large Telescope reveal that the outer main belt asteroid (702) Alauda has a small satellite with primary to secondary diameter ratio of ∼56. The secondary revolves around the primary in 4.9143 ± 0.007 days at a distance of 1227 ± 24 km, yielding a total system mass of (6.057 ± 0.36) × 1018 kg. Combined with an IRAS size measurement, our data yield a bulk density of 1570 ± 500 kg m−3 for this B-type asteroid.