Related papers: Nature of bright C-complex asteroids
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…
Low-albedo asteroids preserve a record of the primordial solar system planetesimals and the conditions in which the solar nebula was active. However, the origin and evolution of these asteroids are not well-constrained. Here we measured…
Undifferentiated asteroids, particularly the parent bodies of carbon-rich chondrite groups, might be promising candidates for future space resource utilization due to their primitive composition and potential to host valuable metals and…
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…
We obtained spectra of six of the largest asteroids (2201, 4183, 4486, 5143, 6063, and 269690) associated with Taurid complex. The observations were made with the IRTF telescope equipped with the spectro-imager SpeX. Their taxonomic…
Bottke et al. (2007) linked the catastrophic formation of Baptistina Asteroid Family (BAF) to the K/T impact event. This linkage was based on dynamical and compositional evidence, which suggested the impactor had a composition similar to…
Carbonaceous chondrites (CCs) are windows into the early Solar system and the histories of their parent bodies. Their infrared spectral signatures are powerful proxies for deciphering their composition and evolution history, but still…
Asteroid (16) Psyche, that for long was the largest M-type with no detection of hydration features in its spectrum, was recently discovered to have a weak 3 micron band and thus it eventually was added to the group of hydrated asteroids.…
This work focuses on the study of the aqueous alteration process which acted in the main belt and produced hydrated minerals on the altered asteroids. The aqueous alteration is particularly important for unraveling the processes occurring…
Cement mineral tobermorite was formed in hydrothermal experiments on alternation of calcium-aluminum-rich inclusions (CAIs) in carbonaceous chondrite meteorites. Unidentified bands at 14 microns were measured for CAIs and the matrix of the…
Polarimetry has the capacity to provide a unique probe of the surface properties of asteroids. Trends in polarization behavior as a function of wavelength trace asteroid regolith mineral properties that are difficult to probe without…
Carbonaceous chondrites are among the most important meteorite types and have played a vital role in deciphering the origin and evolution of our solar system. They have been linked to low-albedo C-type asteroids, but due to subdued…
Surfaces of carbonaceous asteroids (C-complex) have shown diverse contrasting spectral variations, which may be related to space weathering. We performed laser irradiation experiments on CI and CM simulant material under vacuum to mimic the…
The members of asteroid families have various shapes. We investigate the origin of their shapes by high-resolution impact simulations for catastrophic disruptions using a Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics code. Collisional remnants produced…
We carried out low-resolution optical spectroscopy of 51 main-belt asteroids, most of which have highly-inclined orbits. They are selected from D-type candidates in the SDSS-MOC 4 catalog. Using the University of Hawaii 2.2 m telescope and…
We present deep high-resolution (R~15,000) and high-quality UVES optical spectrophotometry of nine planetary nebulae with dual-dust chemistry. We compute physical conditions from several diagnostics. Ionic abundances for a large number of…
We present analysis of the asteroid surface density distribution of main belt asteroids (mean perihelion $\Delta \simeq 2.404$ AU) in five ecliptic latitude fields, $-17 \gtsimeq \beta(\degr) \ltsimeq +15$, derived from deep \textit{Large…
Although spectral surveys and spacecraft missions provide information on small bodies, many important analyses can only be performed in terrestrial laboratories. For now, the total number of parent bodies represented in our meteorites…
Ground-based observations of `Barbarian' L-type asteroids at 1 to 2.5-$\mu$m indicate that their near-infrared spectra are dominated by the mineral spinel, which has been attributed to a high abundance of calcium-aluminum inclusions (CAIs)…
Spectrally blue (B-type) asteroids are rare, with the second discovered asteroid Pallas being the largest and most famous example. We conducted a focused, infrared spectroscopic survey of B-type asteroids to search for water-related…