# # Program information file # PROGRAM_ID 2021B064 PROGRAM_TITLE Spectra characterization of 2020 AV2 , the first known asteroid orbiting inside Venus orbit PROGRAM_INV1 Marcel Popescu PROGRAM_INV2 Carlos de la Fuente Marcos PROGRAM_INV3 Julia de Leon PROGRAM_INV4 Eri Tatsumi PROGRAM_INV5 Javier Licandro PROGRAM_SCICAT solar system PROGRAM_ABSTRACT_BEG The aim of our proposal is to obtain spectra in the 0.8 - 2.5 um interval in order to study the composition of the peculiar asteroid 2020 AV2, to understand its nature and the processes that take place on its surface. This is the only asteroid known to orbit inside the Venus orbit. Asteroid 2020 AV2 represents an extreme case when compared with the near-Earth asteroids. Due to its orbit, the surface of 2020 AV2 is being constantly modified by the high temperature, by the strong solar wind irradiation that characterizes the innermost region of the Solar system, and by high-energy micrometeorite impacts. On January 2020 we obtained spectral data over the the 0.5-1.5 um wavelength interval with the Nordic Optical Telescope and the William Herschel Telescope [Popescu et al. 2020]. The wide spectral band around 1 um shows the signature of an olivine rich composition, a very rare composition among the asteroids. However, the obtained preliminary spectra had a low signal to noise ration and were not able make a detailed analysis of 1 micron band. PROGRAM_ABSTRACT_END