Asteroid Family Identification: History and State of the Art. Issue Volume 10:Issue S318(2015) (1st March 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Knežević, Zoran
• Editors: Chesley, S. R.; Morbidelli, A.; Jedicke, R.; Farnocchia, D.
• Is Part Of: Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union. Volume 10:Issue S318(2015)
• Page Start: 16
• Page End: 27
• Publication Date: 2016-03-01
• Subjects: Asteroids, -- asteroid families, -- proper elements, -- hierarchical clustering; Astronomy -- Congresses; Astronomy -- Periodicals; 520
• DOI: 10.1017/S1743921315008728
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1743-9213

Abstract

Abstract: The history of asteroid families, from their discovery back in 1918, until the present time, is briefly reviewed. Two threads have been followed: on the development of the theories of asteroid motion and the computation of proper elements, and on the methods of classification themselves. Three distinct periods can be distinguished: the first one until mid-1930s, devoted to discovery and first attempts towards understanding of the properties of families; the second one, until early 1980s, characterized by a growing understanding of their importance as key evidence of the collisional evolution; the third one, characterized by an explosion of work and results, comprises the contemporary era. An assessment is given of the state-of-the-art and possible directions for the future effort, focusing on the dynamical studies, and on improvements of classification methods to cope with ever increasing data set.