Forming Binary Near-Earth Asteroids From Tidal Disruptions

Figure 2.4: Normalized probability of binaries formed versus (a) q, (b) v ∞ , (c) initial spinrate and, (d) initial elongation.shows the dramatic increase in production at high spin rates, as bodies with 4 h periodswere nearly 60% more likely to create a system than those with a 6 h period. Similarly,elongated bodies were significantly more efficient at producing binaries, with elongationsof 2.0 making nearly 3 times the number of binaries as elongations of 1.0 or 1.25.Figure 2.5 displays the number of binaries formed as a function of the mass of thelargest remnant divided by the mass of the progenitor, basically a measure of how disrup-34