Related papers: A note on cement in asteroids
A bombardment of comets is thought to have occurred in the inner solar system as a result of a dynamical instability among the giant planets after gas disk dispersal. Vesta, the second largest asteroid in the main asteroid belt, likely…
Many debris discs reveal a two-component structure, with a cold outer and a warm inner component. While the former are likely massive analogues of the Kuiper belt, the origin of the latter is still a matter of debate. In this work we…
The Rosetta mission to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko has provided new data to better understand what comets are made of. The weak tensile strength of the cometary surface materials suggests that the comet is a hierarchical dust aggregate…
Isotope anomalies among planetary bodies provide key constraints on planetary genetics and the Solar System's dynamical evolution. However, to unlock the full potential of these anomalies for constraining the processing, mixing, and…
The near-Earth asteroid population suggests the existence of an inner Main Belt source of asteroids that belongs to the spectroscopic X-complex and has moderate albedos. The identification of such a source has been lacking so far. We argue…
Mid-infrared (5 micron to 25 micron) transmission/absorption spectra of differentiated meteorites (achondrites) were measured to permit comparison with astronomical observations of dust in different stages of evolution of young stellar…
Transition metal sulfides (Fe, V)3S4 and (Fe, Ti)3S4, with the monoclinic Cr3S4 type structure have been studied for a long time, itinerant magnetism in form of Spin density waves (SDW) have been found in these systems with different…
We developed an experimental setup to test the hypothesis that accretionary dust rims around chondrules formed in the solar nebula at elevated temperatures. Our experimental method allows us to form dust rims around chondrule-analogs while…
The rotational mass loss has been realized to be a prevalent mechanism to produce low-speed debris near the asteroid, and the size composition of the asteroid's surface regolith has been closely measured by in situ explorations. However,…
The origin of Mercury's anomalous core and low FeO surface mineralogy are outstanding questions in planetary science. Mercury's composition may result from cosmochemical controls on the precursor solids that accreted to form Mercury. High…
Laboratory analyses on fine-grained diamond residues from primitive meteorites have shown that nano-diamonds represent the most abundant form of presolar dust preserved in meteoritic samples. The presolar diamonds carry isotopic anomalies…
Some asteroids eject dust, producing transient, comet-like comae and tails; these are the active asteroids. The causes of activity in this newly-identified population are many and varied. They include impact ejection and disruption,…
A rapidly growing body of observational results suggests that planet formation takes place preferentially at high metallicity. In the core accretion model of planet formation this is expected because heavy elements are needed to form the…
We present optical spectra of (24) Themis and (65) Cybele, two large main-belt asteroids on which exposed water ice has recently been reported. No emission lines, expected from resonance fluorescence in gas sublimated from the ice, were…
Chemical and mineral compositions of asteroids reflect the formation and history of our Solar System. This knowledge is also important for planetary defence and in-space resource utilisation. We aim to develop a fast and robust…
The rapid accumulation of thermal infrared observations and shape models of asteroids has led to increased interest in thermophysical modeling. Most of these infrared observations are unresolved. We consider what fraction of an asteroid's…
This study presents the first optical spectropolarimetric study of large C-complex asteroids. A total of 64 C-complex asteroids of different subclasses are analyzed using archival polarimetric and reflectance data to refine the link between…
The examination of the physical properties of chondrules has generally received less emphasis than other properties of meteorites such as their mineralogy, petrology, and chemical and isotopic compositions. Among the various physical…
Carbonates have repeatedly been discussed as possible carriers of stardust emission bands. However, the band assignments proposed so far were mainly based on room temperature powder transmission spectra of the respective minerals. Since…
Several lines of evidence indicate a non-chondritic composition for Bulk Earth. If Earth formed from the accretion of chondritic material, its non-chondritic composition, in particular the super-chondritic 142Nd/144Nd and low Mg/Fe ratios,…