An age–colour relationship for main-belt S-complex asteroids

Robert Jedicke (), David Nesvorný, Robert Whiteley, Željko Ivezić and Mario Jurić
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Robert Jedicke: University of Hawaii
David Nesvorný: Southwest Research Institute
Robert Whiteley: USAF Space and Missile Systems Center, 2420 Vela Way, Suite 146, Los Angeles Air Force Base
Željko Ivezić: Princeton University
Mario Jurić: Princeton University

Nature, 2004, vol. 429, issue 6989, 275-277

Abstract: Abstract Asteroid collisions in the main belt eject fragments that may eventually land on Earth as meteorites1,2,3. It has therefore been a long-standing puzzle in planetary science that laboratory spectra of the most populous class of meteorite (ordinary chondrites, OC) do not match the remotely observed surface spectra of their presumed (S-complex) asteroidal parent bodies. One of the proposed solutions to this perplexing observation is that ‘space weathering’ modifies the exposed planetary surfaces over time through a variety of processes (such as solar and cosmic ray bombardment, micro-meteorite bombardment, and so on). Space weathering has been observed on lunar samples4, in Earth-based laboratory experiments5,6, and there is good evidence from spacecraft data that the process is active on asteroid surfaces7,8. Here, we present a measurement of the rate of space weathering on S-complex main-belt asteroids using a relationship between the ages of asteroid families and their colours9. Extrapolating this age–colour relationship to very young ages yields a good match to the colour of freshly cut OC meteorite samples, lending strong support to a genetic relationship between them and the S-complex asteroids.

Date: 2004
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DOI: 10.1038/nature02578

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