Related papers: Density of asteroids
The rotational distribution of asteroids as a function of their size is used {as a diagnostic of} their physical properties and evolution. Recent photometric surveys from the Gaia mission, allowing observation of asteroids with long spin…
We investigate the internal structure of clusters of galaxies in high-resolution N-body simulations of 4 different cosmologies. There is a higher proportion of disordered clusters in critical-density than in low-density universes, although…
X-ray microtomography (XMT), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and magnetic hysteresis measurements were used to determine micrometeorite internal structure, mineralogy, crystallography, and physical properties at ~{\mu}m resolution. The study…
Small planets, 1-4x the size of Earth, are extremely common around Sun-like stars, and surprisingly so, as they are missing in our solar system. Recent detections have yielded enough information about this class of exoplanets to begin…
The dust disks observed around mature stars are evidence that plantesimals are present in these systems on spatial scales that are similar to that of the asteroids and the KBOs in the Solar System. These dust disks (a.k.a. ``debris disks'')…
The under-abundance of asteroids on orbits with small perihelion distances suggests that thermally-driven disruption may be an important process in the removal of rocky bodies in the Solar System. Here we report our study of how the debris…
Most meteorites are fragments from recent collisions experienced in the asteroid belt. In such a hyper-velocity collision, the smaller collision partner is destroyed, whereas a crater on the asteroid is formed or it is entirely disrupted,…
We discuss optical colors of 10,592 asteroids with known orbits selected from a sample of 58,000 moving objects observed by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). This is more than ten times larger sample that includes both orbital parameters…
Digital tracking enables telescopes to detect asteroids several times fainter than conventional techniques. We describe our optimized methodology to acquire, process, and interpret digital tracking observations, and we apply it to probe the…
Debris disks around main-sequence stars are believed to derive from planetesimal populations that have accreted at early epochs and survived possible planet formation processes. While debris disks must contain solids in a broad range of…
There is currently debate over whether the dust content of planetary systems is stochastically regenerated or originates in planetesimal belts evolving in steady state. In this paper a simple model for the steady state evolution of debris…
The asteroid belt was dynamically shaped during and after planet formation. Despite representing a broad ring of stable orbits, the belt contains less than one one-thousandth of an Earth mass. The asteroid orbits are dynamically excited…
We performed a wide-field survey observation of small asteroids using the Hyper Suprime-Cam installed on the 8.2 m Subaru Telescope. We detected more than 3,000 main-belt asteroids with a detection limit of 24.2 mag in the r-band, which…
Although petrologic, chemical and isotopic studies of ordinary chondrites and meteorites in general have largely helped establish a chronology of the earliest events of planetesimal formation and their evolution, there are several questions…
The rate at which giant planets accumulate solids and gas is a critical component of planet formation models, yet it is extremely challenging to predict from first principles. Characterizing the heavy element (everything other than hydrogen…
We provide a taxonomic and compositional characterization of Multiple Asteroid Systems (MASs) located in the main belt (MB) using visible and near-infrared (0.45-2.5 um) spectral data of 42 MB MASs. The mineralogical analysis is applied to…
Using over 89 million astrometric observations of 349,737 numbered minor planets, an attempt was made to determine the masses of 230 of them by simultaneously solving for corrections to all orbital elements and the masses. For 132 minor…
How big were the first planetesimals? We attempt to answer this question by conducting coagulation simulations in which the planetesimals grow by mutual collisions and form larger bodies and planetary embryos. The size frequency…
Asteroids formed in a dynamically quiescent disk but their orbits became gravitationally stirred enough by Jupiter to lead to high-speed collisions. As a result, many dozen large asteroids have been disrupted by impacts over the age of the…
The practical distinctions between asteroids and comets, viewed as products of accretion on either side of the snow line, are less clear-cut than previously understood. In this chapter, we discuss the numerous solar system populations which…