Light curves of Datura and 2003 CL5 asteroids

These families are of great interest because they represent the product of their parent body fragmentation before orbital and physical evolutionary processes can change them. A cluster of seven objects around the largest body (1270) Datura is of particular interest because it has enough known members and resides in the inner part of the main asteroid belt, facilitating observations.

We carried out photometric observations of the two largest members of the Datura family - asteroids (1270) Datura and (90265) 2003 CL5 - with the goal of inferring their physical parameters. We also used numerous astrometric observations of Datura-family members in the past few years to revisit the age of this cluster.