Visible and Near-Infrared Spectroscopic Investigation of Near-Earth Objects

Near-Earth objects (NEOs) represent one of the most intriguing populations of Solar System bodies. These objects appear heterogeneous in all aspects of their physical properties, like shapes, sizes, spin rates, compositions etc. Moreover, as these objects represent also a real threat to the Earth, a good knowledge of their properties and composition is the necessary first step to evaluate mitigation techniques and to understand their origin and evolution. In the last few years we have started a long-term spectroscopic investigation in the visible and near-infrared (NIR) region of near-Earth objects. The observations have been performed with the New Technology Telescope (NTT) of the European Southern Observatory and Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG). So far, the spectra of 70 NEOs have been recorded. We present here the taxonomic classification of the observed NEOs, their links with meteorites and possible influences of space weathering.