Vis-NIR disk-integrated photometry of asteroid 25143 Itokawa around opposition by AMICA/Hayabusa

We present photometry of the S-type near-Earth asteroid 25143 Itokawa based on both ground-based observations in the UBVRI bands and measurements from the AMICA/Hayabusa spacecraft observations with ul-, b-, v-, w-, x-, and p-filters. Hayabusa observed Itokawa around opposition during the rendezvous, thus providing a unique set of observations of this asteroid. We fit the phase curve measurements with both the Classic Hapke Model (Hapke, 1981, 1984, 1986) and Modern Hapke Model (Hapke, 2002, 2008, 2012a) and thereby extract the physical properties of Itokawa's surface regolith. The single-scattering albedo (0.57 ± 0.05) is larger than that derived for Eros (0.43 ± 0.02), another S-type near-Earth asteroid visited by a spacecraft. Both models indicate a regolith that is forward-scattering in nature. From the hockey stick relationship derived for the single-particle phase function (Hapke, 2012b), both modeling results suggest a regolith comprised of rough surfaced particles with a low density of internal scatterers. Application of the Modern Hapke model derives porosity parameter values from 1 to 1.1, for BVR bands, which corresponds to porosity values between 77–79%. This suggests the surface of Itokawa is very fluffy and the large boulders may be bonded with smaller size particles, typical of the particle sizes observed in Muses Sea. Both models also provide similar geometric albedo values (0.27 ± 0.02) at the V-band wavelength, which are equivalent to Eros’ geometric albedo.