Asteroids

Not just for kids anymore.

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Goals
What are asteroids?
How do we know?
Why do we care?

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Asteroids
All planets and moons have
been modified chemically and
geologically.
Where do you look for a piece
of the original stuff of the
solar system?
Asteroids and comets.
Small objects
Little internal heat, little to no geological activity.
Little gravity, little to no atmosphere.

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Orbits
1. Asteroid belt.
2. Same as Jupiter, but
separated by 60 Trojans
3. Elliptical orbits that
pass Earth
Earth-crossing
asteroids:
Near-earth asteroids
(NEAs)
Near-earth
objects (NEOs)

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Asteroid sizes
How big are they?

Largest (Ceres) is 940 km in diameter

Three larger than 500 km
About a dozen larger than 250 km
Number increases rapidly with decreasing
size

Total volume of all asteroids ~ much

smaller than moon.

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How do we know?
Compare IR light to visible light.
Visible light: what light a body reflects.
IR light: what a body emits because of its
temperature = what light it absorbs.

Albedo = function of vis/(vis + IR)

Size = function of (vis/albedo)*distance
Assume all asteroids have same albedo and at
same distance: Size ~ vis
Allow different distances: Size ~ vis*distance
Allow different albedo: Size ~ (vis/albedo)

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Concept Test
Suppose you discover two asteroids that are
equally bright in the visible but IR
observations tell you Asteroid#1 is more
reflective than Asteroid#2. What can you
conclude?
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.

Asteroid#1 is larger than Asteroid#2.

Asteroid#1 has a lower albedo than Asteroid#2.
Asteroid#1 is farther away than Asteroid#2.
Asteroid#1 is warmer than Asteroid#2.
None of the above.

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What do asteroids look like?

Shape generally depends on
size.
Gravity tries to make things
spherical (hydrostatic
equilibrium).
Largest (Ceres) is 940 km in
diameter - spherical
Three larger than 500 km
(Vesta) mostly spheroidal
Smaller than 250 km irregular

Gravity Total mass of all

asteroids ~ 5%
of the moon

Ceres - HST
Vesta Thomas et al. HST

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Shapes
Asteroid light curves.
Radar mapping.

Ostro et al. 1995

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Asteroid Encounters
Three fly-bys of asteroids:
Gaspra by Galileo in 1991
Ida by Galileo in 1993
Mathilde by NEAR in 1999

Two orbiters:
Eros by NEAR in 2000
Itokawa by Hayabusa in 2005

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Eros

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Eros Scale

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Eros Landing

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Mathilde

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Eros

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Itokawa

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Composition

Asteroids are classified into a number of types according

to their spectra (and hence their chemical composition)
and albedo:
1. C-type, includes more than 75% of known asteroids:
extremely dark (albedo 0.03)
approximately the same chemical composition as
the Sun minus hydrogen, helium and other
volatiles
2. S-type, 17%
relatively bright (albedo .10-.22)
metallic nickel-iron mixed with iron- and
magnesium-silicates
3. M-type, most of the rest
bright (albedo .10-.18)
pure nickel-iron
4. There are also a dozen or so other rare types

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Masses
Keplers
Third Law
moon
spacecraft

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Density

Calculate Density
Rock ( ~ 3g/cm3) vs. metal (~7g/cm3).
Solid vs. rubble pile.
Ida = 2.6 g/cm3
Eros = 2.4 g/cm3
Itokawa = 1.9 g/cm3
Mathilde = 1.5 g/cm3
Eugenia = 1.12 g/cm3

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Concept Test
I discover an asteroid all by itself. Without
sending a spacecraft there, what can I
determine about the asteroid?
a. Albedo, size, distance, mass, density,
composition.
b. Albedo, size, distance, mass, density.
c. Albedo, size, distance, mass.
d. Albedo, size, distance.
e. Albedo, size.

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Meteorites
Want real sample of this
material.
Hayabusa sample return
one asteroid.
Meteorites potentially
many asteroids.
Really piece of asteroids?
Compare spectra.
Compare trajectories
(observed falls).

Copyright - Wally Pacholka

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Meteorites

Meteoroid the particle in space.

Meteor the fiery streak through the sky.
Meteorite the rock on the ground.
Types (2 main)
1.
2.

Primitive mix of rock and metals

Processed rocky or metallic (from differentiated asteroid
or parent body).

Compare spectra to find parent body:

Asteroid (e.g. Vesta)

Moon
Mars

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Meteorites
Primitive

Processed: stony-iron

Processed: iron

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Peekskill Meteorite
Copyright Pierre Thomas (1992)

Copyright Anne Arundel (1992)

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Peekskill Orbit

Parent body aphelion = 2.1 AU

Martin Beech et al. (Univ of Western Ontario) 1995

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Concept Test

When you see the bright flash of a meteor, what are

you actually seeing?
a.

Emission of visible light from a particle that has not yet

entered Earth's atmosphere.
b. The flash that occurs when a speeding rock from space hits
the ground.
c. A star that has suddenly shot across the sky.
d. The glow from a pea-size particle and the surrounding air
as the particle burns up in our atmosphere.
e. None of the above.

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Concept Test
I find a meteorite that is composed entirely
of rock (no metal). Assuming its from an
asteroid, what type of parent body is it
probably from?
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.

A very small asteroid.

A part of the core of a very large asteroid.
A part of the outer layers of a very large asteroid.
From the heart of a differentiated asteroid.
It is not possible to tell.

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Homework #19
Due Wednesday 19-Nov:
Read Bennett 12.1 - 12.3.
Do 6, 8, 27, 28, and 32.

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