Cosmic Debris: Asteroids & Comets

Asteroids

 
This is a picture of asteroid Ida and its moon Dactyl (taken by Galileo).

There's a great deal of fuss around asteroids, these days - why should

we care about these small chunks of rock? There are 2 very good
reasons: (i) they tell us about solar system evolution, and (ii) they
might hit us! In this session we can consider the more than 12,000
small objects that orbit the Sun as well as the fragments of these
objects, meteorites, that land on the surface of the Earth. We shall look at:

Sizes

Asteroids are small compared with planets and moons. (But, as we shall discuss later, they are BIG when we
think about the possibility of one hitting Earth!)

(1) Compare the 6 largest asteroids with

the size of the Moon. Or go to
the asteroid fact page Using the rule-of-
thumb we used for moons in Session 15
for whether an object is round or
remains "potato-shaped", how many
asteroids do you think are close to
spherical? This means that all the rest -
thousands of them - are irregular in
shape.

Here is a very nice diagram of asteroid

sizes and colors from Clark Chapman's
chapter on asteroids in The New Solar
System. The diagram shows many
asteroids with their size given relative
to the disk of Mars (on the left) and
with a rough indication of the radial
distance of their orbit. Each asteroid is
named (there is a weird convention for
naming asteroids - see the IAU page) and the number below the name gives the spin period in hours.

Composition

Many texts say "Asteroids are classified in terms of their spectroscopic properties". That's easy to say, but what
does it mean. The diagram of asteroid sizes and colors illustrates the range of colors - and, indeed, color is a
crude indicator of composition. See Figure 12.5. But spectroscopy reveals much more than color....

(2) HOW can we determine the composition of other asteroids--at least their surface - using spectroscopy? Hint:
Remember Session 13 on Light - or chapter 7 .

There are 3 main types of asteroids:

75% are C-types - dark, containing carbon compounds

15% are S-types - lighter, containing silicates (rock)

10% are M-types - metal, mostly iron and nickel.

This is a very wide range of compositions.

In the past few years we have gained the capability of imaging asteroids - either by spacecraft flybys (by
Galileo and NEAR) or with large telescopes. These images are all collected at NASA's Small Bodies Data
Center. Particularly important was Galileo's observations of the asteroid Ida. Click on the image to see Ida and
Dactyl in their full glory.

Ida and Dactyl

This image was taken by the Galileo spacecraft, as it made a close

approach to the asteroid Ida. Off to the right of Ida is its small
moon, Dactyl. This is the first known case of a moon around an
asteroid.

(3) (a) WHY is detecting a moon around an object so very important? What does it tell us about the orbitEE?
Hint: see Session 8 on Gravity. 
(b) How does this help us determine the composition of Ida?

Orbits

Look at this plot of asteroid locations in the inner solar system. It shows The instant location of asteroids. The
orbit of a "typical" asteroid is quite circular, though a couple of more eccentric orbits (of Apollo and Amor
asteroids) cross the Earth's orbit. The orbits of asteroids lie mostly between Mars and Jupiter. But they are not
uniformly distributed between Mars and Jupiter. There are radial distances where there are gaps without
asteroids--the Kirkwood Gaps - see Figure 12.2 or here. These gaps are places of orbital resonances with
Jupiter--if an asteroid landed in one of these resonances, Jupiter's gravity would perturb the asteroid, forcing it
into a non-resonant orbit--perhaps sending it on a trajectory headed for Earth!! For example, the gap at 3.3 A.U.
(labeled 2:1) is where an asteroid would orbit the Sun twice for every once that Jupiter orbited the Sun.

(4) Describe the orbital resonance at 2.5 A.U.

Here is a more complete plot of asteroid semi-major axes from the Minor Planets Center which collects and
publishes information about the thousands of small objects whizzing about in the solar system.

Meteorites

With many objects orbiting the Sun within a relatively small range, collisions are likely to happen. Moreover,
there were probably many more asteroids in the early history of the solar system. If collisions are with small
relative velocities the net result is to coax each other into similar orbits (remember the "Why a disk" diagram?).
On the other hand, if collisions are between objects
moving at high relative velocity, damage is going to
be done. The net result will be fragments. If one of
the parent bodies was large enough to have
been differentiated, then we are going to get chunks
of different types of materials.

Our tiny corner of the Universe – the Solar System

– is home to one star, eight planets and dozens of
planetary satellites. It also contains countless asteroids and comets – the debris of the cosmic construction site
that created the planets and their moons.

The majority of Solar System asteroids populate the main asteroid belt, lying between the orbit of Mars and
Jupiter. However, asteroids can also be found wandering in other areas of the Solar System, sometimes in the
vicinity of planets.

On its journey to Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko Rosetta also flew by two asteroids at close quarters so
that scientists could gain new insights into the events that took place 4600 million years ago, during the birth of
the Earth and its planetary neighbours.

Rosetta’s asteroid fly-bys

Asteroid Lutetia

It journeyed through the main asteroid belt and obtained a wealth of

science data as it flew past the two asteroids:

(2867) Steins on 5 September 2008, from a distance of about 800 km

(21) Lutetia on 10 July 2010, from a distance of about 3000 km

Asteroids are very different in shape and size (ranging from a few
kilometres to more than 100 kilometres), as well as in their composition.
Rosetta provided information on the mass and density of the asteroids, telling us more about their bulk
composition. It also measured their subsurface temperature and looked for gases and dust around them.

Based on their albedo, or reflectivity (a white, perfectly reflecting surface has an albedo of 1 whereas a black,
perfectly absorbing surface has an albedo of 0), spectral characteristics and similarities to known types of
meteorites, asteroids are classified into at least 14 different classes, whereby the following three major types
occur:

C-type (carbonaceous)

More than 75% of known asteroids

Very dark, with an albedo of 0.03-0.09

Similar to carbonaceous chondrite meteorites

Composition is thought to be similar to the Sun, depleted in Hydrogen, helium, and other volatiles

Inhabit the main belt's outer regions

S-type (silicaceous)

About 17% of known asteroids

Relatively bright with an albedo of 0.10-0.22

Composition is metallic iron mixed with iron- and magnesium-silicates.

Dominate the inner asteroid belt.

M-type (metallic)

Includes most of the rest of the known asteroids

Relatively bright, albedo of 0.10-0.18

Pure nickel-iron composition

M-type asteroids inhabit the main belt's middle region

In addition to these major types there are several less common types of asteroids.

Steins is an E-type asteroid, which is defined by a high albedo and a featureless spectrum. They resemble the
characteristics of the Aubrite meteorites and are believed to have suffered at least partial melting. Steins
therefore may be a fragment of a larger asteroid that fragmented a long time ago.

Mission Asteroid Date of observation Distance and speed Type size

Galileo

18.2 x 10.5 x 8.9

(951) Gaspra 29 October 1991 1600 km at 8 km/s S-type
km

(243) Ida 28 August 1993 2391 km at 12.38 km/s S-type 56 x 24 x 21 km

Dactyl (Ida's
1.6 x 1.4 x 1.2 km
satellite)

NEAR Shoemaker

(253) Mathilde 27 June 1997 1212 km at 9.93 km/s C-type 60 km diameter

(433) Eros 23 December 1999* S-type S-type 33 x 13 x 13 km

Deep Space 1

(9986) Braille 29 July 1999 13 500 km, 15.5 km/s V-type 2.1 x 1 x 1 km

Stardust

(5535) Annefrank 2 Nov 2002 3100 km at 7.4 km/s S-type 6.6 x 5.0 x 3.4 km

Hayabusa

12 November
(25143) Itokawa S-type 540 x 180 m
2005**

Rosetta

about 800 km at 8.62

(2867) Steins 5 September 2008 E-type 4.6 km diameter
km/s

(21) Lutetia 10 July 2010 3000 km at 15 km/s C-type 95 km diameter