Hi all,
I'm trying to extend myself beyond 'just' observing and have been plotting some asteroid data, specifically about asteroids and stumbled upon a trend (that is well known and documented) but I thought was interesting.
http://www.david-higgins.com/P1vD_2-D_1.GIF
The trend is that the higher the value of D_2/D_1 (the ratio of the diameter of the Moon to it's parent) the slower the spin rotation of the parent. At D_2/D_1 >= 0.8, the systems are completely synchronised, that is P1 = P2 = P_orb. I also plotted the size of the parents denoted by the size of the circles and it surprised me to note how many large asteroids there were with fast spin rates.
The 'mass' of smaller asteroids are those specifically covered by BINAST (the survey I belong to) whilst the really small ones represent the NEO's observed just prior to, and actually triggered the formation of, BINAST. Nothing ground breaking here, just thought it interesting to see it in black and white so to speak.
Cheers