WISE Albedos for Tens of Thousands of Main Belt Asteroids

Using thermal IR data from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission we have calculated diameters for tens of thousands of previously known Main Belt asteroids. Using archival optical observations we have also determined albedos for each object. We present our results from this investigation including: diameter and albedo population statistics for the Main Belt as a whole; preliminary size-frequency and albedo distributions for dynamical families; and new populations of very high albedo asteroids. These results provide new insight into the surface chemistry and formation history of the Main Belt asteroids. Funding for this work was provided by the NASA Postdoctoral Program, administered through Oak Ridge Associated Universities. WISE is a joint project between UCLA and JPL funded by the NASA MIDEX program. The NEOWISE enhancement is funded through NASA Planetary Science