YORP and Yarkovsky effects in asteroids (1685) Toro, (2100) Ra-Shalom, (3103) Eger, and (161989) Cacus
Journal: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Year: 2017

Context. The rotation states of small asteroids are affected by a net torque arising from an anisotropic sunlight reflection and thermal radiation from the asteroids’ surfaces. On long timescales, this so-called YORP effect can change asteroid spin directions and their rotation periods. Aims. We analyzed lightcurves of four selected near-Earth asteroids with the aim of detecting secular changes in their rotation rates that are caused by YORP or at least of putting upper limits on such changes. M