Thermal and shape properties of asteroid (21) Lutetia from Herschel observations around the Rosetta flyby

Prior to and around the Rosetta flyby of (21) Lutetia, the Herschel Space Observatory performed a collaborative observation campaign with its two photometers observing the asteroid in the far infrared, at wavelengths not covered by Rosetta’s instruments. The Herschel observations, fed into a thermophysical model (TPM) using as input a shape model based on in-situ images, were also further correlated with ∼70 multi-wavelength observations of Lutetia. We confirm the geometric albedo measured by Rosetta, derive a H-mag value based upon the effective diameter of the asteroid and point to (21) Lutetia having an extremely low thermal inertia (5 J m−2 s−0.5 K−1). This thermal inertia is only possible through the existence of a significant amount of small scale roughness which is not directly observable by the OSIRIS (Optical, Spectroscopic, and Infrared Imaging System) instrument on-board Rosetta. In addition, our results point to the existence of a hill/crater surface feature located on the asteroids southern region not observed by Rosetta. From our results, we conclude that only through the merging of in situ and remote sensing observations can a true global picture be obtained of this asteroid.

► We provide Herschel observations (PACS & SPIRE photometer) of (21) Lutetia.
► We derive values for H-Mag and Albedo of (21) Lutetia.
► We find (21) Lutetia has a very low Thermal inertia (5 J m−2 s−0.5 K−1).
► We identify a hill/crater surface feature on the (21) Lutetia not observed by Rosetta