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Bicolour lightcurve of TNO 1996 TO$_{\mathsf{66}}$ with the ESO-VLT

2002; EDP Sciences; Volume: 385; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1051/0004-6361

1432-0746

Tomohiko Sekiguchi, H. Boehnhardt, O. Hainaut, C. E. Delahodde,

Planetary Science and Exploration

We performed high resolution imaging of 1996 TO66 in V and R band to verify and monitor the lightcurve change, to address a colour change over a rotation and to search for a cometary activity. No activity was detected at the 29 mag/sq.arcsec level with 5400 s integration time with the ESO-VLT. Combining the data in Nov. and Dec. 1999, we obtained a complete rotation period coverage. The lightcurve was a single-peaked, with an amplitude of 0.21 mag in R. The () colour displays the inhomogeneity of TNO surface. TNO's patchy surface may be cause the intensity change of water absorption feature in near-IR spectra. These observations can be the starting points for a challenging work of surface mapping of TNOs.