Nereid from space: rotation, size and shape analysis from K2, Herschel and Spitzer observations

Kiss, Cs. and Pál, A. and Farkas-Takács, A.I. and Szabó, Gy. M. and Szabó, R. and Kiss, L.L. and Molnár, L. and Sárneczky, K. and Müller, Th.G. and Mommert, M. and Stansberry, J. (2016) Nereid from space: rotation, size and shape analysis from K2, Herschel and Spitzer observations. MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY, 457. pp. 2908-2917. ISSN 0035-8711

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Abstract

In this paper, we present an analysis of K2 mission Campaign 3 observations of the irregular Neptune satellite, Nereid. We determined a rotation period of P = 11.594±0.017 h and amplitude of Δm = 0.0328m ± 0.0018m, confirming previous short rotation periods obtained in ground-based observations. The similarities of light-curve amplitudes between 2001 and 2015 show that Nereid is in a low-amplitude rotation state nowadays and it could have been in a high-amplitude rotation state in the mid-1960s. Another high-amplitude period is expected in about 30 yr. Based on the light-curve amplitudes observed in the last 15 yr, we could constrain the shape of Nereid and obtained a maximum a:c axis ratio of 1.3:1. This excludes the previously suggested very elongated shape of a:c ≈ 1.9:

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