Sykes has continued his work in support of the NASA Discovery mission, Dawn, which successfully launched on September 27, 2007. Instruments and the ion propulsion system have all checked out and Dawn is now on its way to its first rendezvous target, Vesta, at which it will arrive in August 2011. Prior to that it will get a gravity assist from Mars in February 2009.

Sykes continues to participate in numerous Guest Observer programs using the Spitzer Space Telescope, studying zodiacal dust, asteroids, comets, comet dust trails, and outer planet satellites. Working with D. Trilling (UAz) and others, he is building a catalog of albedos and diameters of asteroids detected by Spitzer that should exceed 50000 when all of the data is analysed. More than 30 comet trails have been identified and characterized in the survey led by W. Reach (Cal Tech), confirming the generality of the phenomenon predicted by Sykes and Walker (1992).

Sykes and M. Chamberlain (in collaboration with A. Lovell, Agnes Scott College) are determining the thermophysical properties of the largest mainbelt asteroids, primarily Ceres and Vesta, using accumulated observations in the mid-infrared and submillimeter. Analysis of the Vesta submillimeter observations (Chamberlain et al. 2007) indicates that thermal emissivity is not suppressed at these wavelengths relative to its mid-infrared value. Rather, that a signficant contribution to its flux originates near or below the thermal wave, requiring that emitted radiation be integrated through the subsurface. Also, Vesta's submillimeter lightcurve has an amplitude that is larger than can be explained by shape or albedo alone, which has not been seen previously on other asteroids. Papers

Awards and Honors

NASA Planetary Science Division Distinguished Service Award

Papers

Chamberlain, M.A., A.J. Lovell, and M.V. Sykes (2007). Submillimeter lightcurves of Vesta. Icarus 192, 448-459.

Russell, C.T., F. Capaccioni, A. Coradini, M.C. De Sanctis, W.C. Feldman, R. Jaumann, H.U. Keller, T.B. McCord, L.A. McFadden, S. Mottola, C.M. Pieters, T.H. Prettyman, C.A. Raymond, M.V. Sykes, D.E. Smith and M.T. Zuber (2007). Dawn mission to Vesta and Ceres. Earth, Moon, Planets 101, 65-91.

Reach, W.T., M.S. Kelley, and M.V. Sykes (2007). A survey of debris trails from short-period comets. Icarus 191, 298-322.

Lynch, D.K., R.W. Russell, R.J. Rudy, S. Mazuk, C.C. Venturini, H.B. Hammel, M.V. Sykes, R.C. Puetter, and P.R. Brad (2007). Infrared Spectra of Deimos (1-13 microns) and Phobos (3-13 microns). Astron. J. 134, 1459-1463.

Chamberlain, M.A., M.V. Sykes, and G.A. Esquerdo (2007). Ceres lightcurve analysis - Period determination. Icarus 188, 451-456.

Russell, C.T., M.A. Barucci, R.P. Binzel, M.T. Capria, U. Christensen, A. Coradini, M.C. de Sanctis, W.C. Feldman, R. Jaumann, H.U. Keller, A.S. Konopliv, T.B. McCord, L.A. McFadden, K.D. McKeegan, H.Y. McSween, S. Mottola, A. Nathues, G. Neukum, C.M. Pieters, T.H. Prettyman, C.A. Raymond, H. Sierks, D.E. Smith, T. Spohn, M.V. Sykes, F. Vilas, and M.T. Zuber (2007). Exploring the asteroid belt with ion propulsion: Dawn mission history, status and plans. Adv. Sp. Res. 40, 193-201.

Lisse, C.M., M.V. Sykes, D. Trilling, J. Emery, Y. Fernandez, H.B. Hammel, B. Bhattacharya, E. Ryan, and J. Stansberry (2007). Planetary science goals for the Spitzer Warm Era. In The Science Opportunities of the Warm Spitzer Mission Workshop (L.J. Storrie-Lombardi and N.A. Silbermann, Eds). AIP Conf. Series 943, 184-212.

Abstracts

Trlling, D.E., B. Bhattacharya, M. Blaylock, J.A. Stansberry, M.V. Sykes, and L.H. Wasserman (2007). The Spitzer Asteroid Catalog: Albedos And Diameters of 35,000 Asteroids. B.A.A.S. 39, #35.15.

Li, J., L.A. McFadden, P.C. Thomas, M. Mutchler, J.W. Parker, E.F. Young, C.T. Russell, M.V. Sykes, and B. Schmidt (2007). Photometric Mapping of Asteroid (4) Vesta from HST. B.A.A.S. 39, #30.11.

McFadden, L.A., P.C. Thomas, B. Carcich, M. Mutchler, J. Li, F. Bastien, D.P. Hamilton, J. Parker, E.F. Young, M.V. Sykes, B. Schmidt, and C.T. Russell (2007). Observations of Vesta with HST-Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 in 2007. B.A.A.S. 39, #30.03.