Solar wind as the origin of rapid reddening of asteroid surfaces

P. Vernazza (), R. P. Binzel, A. Rossi, M. Fulchignoni and M. Birlan
Additional contact information
P. Vernazza: European Space Agency, Keplerlaan 1, 2201 AZ Noordwijk, The Netherlands
R. P. Binzel: Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
A. Rossi: Spaceflight Dynamics Section, ISTI-CNR, Via Moruzzi, 1, 56124 Pisa, Italy
M. Fulchignoni: Laboratoire d’Etudes Spatiales et d’Instrumentation en Astrophysique, Observatoire de Paris, 5 Place Jules Janssen, Meudon, F-92195, France
M. Birlan: IMCCE, Observatoire de Paris, 77 Av. Denfert Rochereau, 75014 Paris Cedex, France

Nature, 2009, vol. 458, issue 7241, 993-995

Abstract: How asteroids go into the red Asteroids appear much 'redder' than the meteorites derived from them. The accepted explanation for this is 'space weathering' of asteroidal surfaces, though the actual processes and timescales involved have remained controversial. New measurements of the spectral properties of two young asteroid families reveal that whatever space weathering is, it must be a very rapid process. The asteroids, of the Datura and Lucascavin clusters, have acquired most of their final red colour within a million years of their birth in a catastrophic collision. The rapid timescale favours solar wind implantation as the main mechanism of space weathering, and suggests that colour differences between asteroids are not so much a function of age, but more of their surface composition.

Date: 2009
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DOI: 10.1038/nature07956

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