Asteroid shapes and hydration levels can serve as tracers of their history and origin. For instance, the asteroids (162173) Ryugu and (101955) Bennu have an oblate spheroidal shape with a pronounced ...equator, but contain different surface hydration levels. Here we show, through numerical simulations of large asteroid disruptions, that oblate spheroids, some of which have a pronounced equator defining a spinning top shape, can form directly through gravitational reaccumulation. We further show that rubble piles formed in a single disruption can have similar porosities but variable degrees of hydration. The direct formation of top shapes from single disruption alone can explain the relatively old crater-retention ages of the equatorial features of Ryugu and Bennu. Two separate parent-body disruptions are not necessarily required to explain their different hydration levels.
8000 years ago, prior to Neolithic agriculture, Europe was mostly a wooded continent. Since then, its forest cover has been progressively fragmented, so that today it covers less than half of ...Europe's land area, in many cases having been cleared to make way for fields and pasture-land. Establishing the origin of Europe's current, more open land-cover mosaic requires a long-term perspective, for which pollen analysis offers a key tool. In this study we utilise and compare three numerical approaches to transforming pollen data into past forest cover, drawing on >1000
C-dated site records. All reconstructions highlight the different histories of the mixed temperate and the northern boreal forests, with the former declining progressively since ~6000 years ago, linked to forest clearance for agriculture in later prehistory (especially in northwest Europe) and early historic times (e.g. in north central Europe). In contrast, extensive human impact on the needle-leaf forests of northern Europe only becomes detectable in the last two millennia and has left a larger area of forest in place. Forest loss has been a dominant feature of Europe's landscape ecology in the second half of the current interglacial, with consequences for carbon cycling, ecosystem functioning and biodiversity.
Context.
The Hayabusa2 spacecraft launched by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency has been conducting observations of the asteroid (162173) Ryugu since June 2018. The Telescopic Optical Navigation ...Camera (ONC-T) onboard Hayabusa2 has obtained thousands of images under a variety of illumination and viewing conditions.
Aims.
Our objective is to examine and validate the camera calibration, derive a photometric correction for creating global albedo maps, and to interpret the photometric modeling results to characterize the surface of Ryugu.
Methods.
We observed (162173) Ryugu with the Gemini-South telescope, and combined these measurements with other published ground-based observations of the asteroid. The ground-based observations were compared with the data obtained by ONC-T in order to validate the radiometric calibration mutually. We used a combination of the Hapke disk-integrated and disk-resolved model equations to simultaneously analyze the combined ground- and spacecraft-based data.
Results.
The average spectrum of Ryugu was classified as Cb-type following the SMASSII taxonomy and C/F-type following the Tholen taxonomy based on spacecraft observations. We derived Hapke model parameters for all seven color filters, which allowed us to photometrically correct images to within an error of <10% for ~80% of the image pixels used in the modeling effort. Using this model, we derived a geometric albedo of 4.0 ± 0.5% (
v
band) for Ryugu. The average reflectance factor at the standard illumination condition was 1.87 ± 0.14% in the
v
band. Moreover we measured a phase reddening of (2.0 ± 0.7) × 10
−3
μ
m
−1
deg
−1
for Ryugu, similar to that observed for the asteroid (101955) Bennu.
Conclusions.
The global color map showed that the general trend was for darker regions to also be redder regions, however there were some distinct exceptions to this trend. For example, Otohime Saxum was bright and red while Kibidango crater was dark and blue. The darkness and flatness of Ryugu’s reflectance might be caused by a high abundance of organic materials.
The Hayabusa2 spacecraft investigated the small asteroid Ryugu, which has a rubble-pile structure. We describe an impact experiment on Ryugu using Hayabusa2's Small Carry-on Impactor. The impact ...produced an artificial crater with a diameter >10 meters, which has a semicircular shape, an elevated rim, and a central pit. Images of the impact and resulting ejecta were recorded by the Deployable CAMera 3 for >8 minutes, showing the growth of an ejecta curtain (the outer edge of the ejecta) and deposition of ejecta onto the surface. The ejecta curtain was asymmetric and heterogeneous and it never fully detached from the surface. The crater formed in the gravity-dominated regime; in other words, crater growth was limited by gravity not surface strength. We discuss implications for Ryugu's surface age.
Context . Asteroid and comet surfaces are exposed to a complex environment that includes low gravity, high temperature gradients, and a bombardment of micrometeorites and cosmic rays. Surface ...material exposed to this environment evolves in a specific way depending on various factors such as the bodies’ size, heliocentric distance, and composition. Fractures in boulders, as seen on asteroid Ryugu, can help to determine and constrain the dominant processes eroding small-body surface materials. It is also possible to estimate fracture growth timescales based on the abundance and length of fractures in boulders. Aims . We analyse the number, orientation, and length of fractures on asteroid Ryugu to establish the relation between the fractures and the processes that may have formed them. We also compare our results to similar investigations conducted on other small bodies and estimate the timescale of fracture growth. Methods . 198 high-resolution Hayabusa2 images of asteroid Ryugu suitable for our fracture analysis were selected and map-projected. Within these images, fractures in boulders were manually mapped using the QGIS software. The fracture coordinates were extracted and the fractures’ orientation and length were computed for 1521 identified fractures. Results . Fractures in boulders on asteroid Ryugu are found to be preferentially north-south aligned, suggesting a formation through thermal erosion. Modeling the fracture length indicates a fracture growth timescale of 30 000 to 40 000 yr, slightly younger than ages found previously for asteroid Bennu. The errors in these ages, due to uncertainties about the thermophysical parameters used in this model, are substantial (−33 000 yr +250 000 yr). However, even with these large errors, the model suggests that thermal fracturing is a geologically fast process. These times are not too dissimilar to those quoted in the literature for Ryugu and Bennu, since similar thermophysical material parameters for Ryugu and Bennu seem likely.
Abstract Rubble pile asteroids are widely understood to be composed of reaccumulated debris following a catastrophic collision between asteroids in the main asteroid belt, where each disruption can ...make a family of new asteroids. Near-Earth asteroids Ryugu and Bennu have been linked to collisional families in the main asteroid belt, but surface age analyses of each asteroid suggest these bodies are substantially younger than their putative families. Here we show, through a coupled collisional and dynamical evolution of members of these families, that neither asteroid was likely to have been created at the same time as the original family breakups, but rather are likely remnants of later disruptions of original family members, making them second, or later, generation remnants. Our model finds about 80% and 60% of asteroids currently being delivered to near-Earth orbits from the respective families of New Polana and Eulalia are second or later generation. These asteroids delivered today in the 0.5-1 km size range have median ages since their last disruption that are substantially younger than the family age, reconciling their measured crater retention ages with membership in these families.
The near-Earth asteroid (162173) Ryugu, the target of Hayabusa2 space mission, was observed via both orbiter and the lander instruments. The infrared radiometer on the MASCOT lander (MARA) is the ...only instrument providing spectrally resolved mid-infrared (MIR) data, which is crucial for establishing a link between the asteroid material and meteorites found on Earth. Earlier studies revealed that the single boulder investigated by the lander belongs to the most common type found on Ryugu. Here we show the spectral variation of Ryugu's emissivity using the complete set of in-situ MIR data and compare it to those of various carbonaceous chondritic meteorites, revealing similarities to the most aqueously altered ones, as well as to asteroid (101955) Bennu. The results show that Ryugu experienced strong aqueous alteration prior to any dehydration.
Carbonaceous asteroids, such as (101955) Bennu, preserve material from the early Solar System, including volatile compounds and organic molecules. We report spacecraft imaging and spectral data ...collected during and after retrieval of a sample from Bennu’s surface. The sampling event mobilized rocks and dust into a debris plume, excavating a 9-meter-long elliptical crater. This exposed material is darker, spectrally redder, and more abundant in fine particulates than the original surface. The bulk density of the displaced subsurface material was 500 to 700 kilograms per cubic meter, which is about half that of the whole asteroid. Particulates that landed on instrument optics spectrally resemble aqueously altered carbonaceous meteorites. The spacecraft stored 250 ± 101 grams of material, which will be delivered to Earth in 2023.
Grabbing a sample of asteroid Bennu
The near-Earth carbonaceous asteroid Bennu was the target of the OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer) sample return mission. After rendezvousing with the asteroid, the spacecraft spent 2 years studying its surface and selecting a suitable site. Lauretta
et al
. describe the sample collection process and its effects on Bennu. The asteroid provided almost no resistance to contact, and the gas released by the spacecraft blew a crater several meters wide, exposing redder rocks and dust. So much material was gathered that the collection chamber overflowed. Approximately 250 grams was successfully stowed, well above the mission goal of 60 grams. The samples are expected to arrive on Earth in September 2023. —KTS
Samples of the near-Earth asteroid Bennu were collected by the OSIRIS-REx mission and should arrive on Earth in 2023.
REVEALS-based quantitative reconstruction of Holocene vegetation cover (expressed in plant functional types, PFTs) is used in the LANDCLIM project to assess the effect of human-induced land-cover ...change on past climate in NW Europe. Using the Czech Quaternary Pollen Database, this case study evaluates the extent to which selection of data and input parameters for the REVEALS model applications would affect reconstruction outcomes. The REVEALS estimates of PFTs (grid-cell based REVEALS PFT estimates, GB REVEALS PFT-s) are calculated for five time windows of the Holocene using fossil pollen records available in each 1°×1° grid cell of the Czech Republic. The input data and parameters selected for testing are: basin type and size, number of 14C dates used to establish the chronology of the pollen records, number of taxa, and pollen productivity estimates (PPE). We used the Spearman correlation coefficient to test the hypothesis that there is no association between GB REVEALS PFT-s using different data and parameter inputs. The results show that differences in the basin size and type, number of dates, number and type of taxa (entomophilous included or not), and PPE dataset do not affect the rank orders of the GB REVEALS PFT-s significantly, except for the cases when entomophilous taxa are included. It implies that, given careful selection of data and parameter and interpretation of results, REVEALS applications can use pollen records from lakes and bogs of different sizes together for reconstruction of past land cover at the regional to sub-continental spatial scales for purposes such as the study of past land cover–climate interactions. Our study also provides useful criteria to set up protocols for data compilation REVEALS applications of this kind.
► Quantitative reconstruction of past land-cover at the European scale ► Effects of parameters and data condition/quality on the reconstruction outcomes ► Selection of standardized parameters to reconstruct past land-cover
The hydrogen exosphere constitutes the uppermost atmospheric layer of the Earth, and its shape may reflect the last stage of the atmospheric escape process. The distribution of hydrogen in the outer ...exosphere remains unobserved because outer geocoronal emissions are difficult to observe from within the exosphere. In this study, we used the Lyman Alpha Imaging Camera on board the Proximate Object Close Flyby with Optical Navigation spacecraft, located outside the exosphere, to obtain the first image of the entire geocorona that extends to more than 38 Earth radii. The observed emission intensity distribution can be reproduced using our analytical model that has three parameters: exobase temperature, exobase density, and solar radiation pressure, which implies that hot hydrogen production in the magnetized plasmasphere is not the dominant process shaping the outer hydrogen exosphere. However, the role of the magnetic effect in determining the total escape flux cannot be ruled out.
Plain Language Summary
In this report, we show the first high‐quality, and wide‐field‐of‐view (FOV) image of Earth's hydrogen corona of 100 Earth radii (RE) obtained by the first interplanetary microspacecraft. Because hydrogen geocorona has not been observed since Apollo 16 in 1972, which observed only up to 10 RE of FOV. The field of view of our observation is ~10 times wider than that in past. Furthermore, since the advancement in deep UV detection technology in the last four decades is very large, the improvement in data quality is very large. In fact, our newly obtained data strongly support a different picture for geocorona distribution. More specifically, we found that the observed ecliptic north‐south symmetrical distribution can be reproduced by a simple analytic model and is not consistent with past results. Our result strongly suggests a combination between a compact science instrument and a flexible interplanetary microspacecraft allows us to measure important scientific observables not readily accessible with conventional large‐scale spacecraft missions.
Key Points
The first image of the outer hydrogen geocorona at <16 RE shows ecliptic north‐south symmetry
We reproduced the observed spatial distribution using a model with neither a magnetic effect nor a satellite component
Substantial contribution of the magnetic effect to the escape flux cannot be ruled out
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