Formation of Sharp Edges and Planar Areas of Asteroids by Polyhedral Abrasion

Domokos, G.; Sipos, András Árpád; Szabó, Gy. M.; Várkonyi, Péter L.

doi:10.1088/0004-637x/699/1/l13

Cited by 59 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…Here we show that the abrasion of a primordial asteroid by a huge number of tiny particles ultimately leads to such elongated shape. The model (called the Eikonal equation) predicting this outcome was already suggested in Domokos et al (2009) to play an important role in the evolution of asteroid shapes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 92%

A brief visit from a red and extremely elongated interstellar asteroid

Meech

Weryk

Micheli

et al. 2017

Nature

388

437

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None of the approximately 750,000 known asteroids and comets in the Solar System is thought to have originated outside it, despite models of the formation of planetary systems suggesting that orbital migration of giant planets ejects a large fraction of the original planetesimals into interstellar space. The high predicted number density of icy interstellar objects (2.4 × 10 per cubic astronomical unit) suggests that some should have been detected, yet hitherto none has been seen. Many decades of asteroid and comet characterization have yielded formation models that explain the mass distribution, chemical abundances and planetary configuration of the Solar System today, but there has been no way of telling whether the Solar System is typical of planetary systems. Here we report observations and analysis of the object 1I/2017 U1 ('Oumuamua) that demonstrate its extrasolar trajectory, and that thus enable comparisons to be made between material from another planetary system and from our own. Our observations during the brief visit by the object to the inner Solar System reveal it to be asteroidal, with no hint of cometary activity despite an approach within 0.25 astronomical units of the Sun. Spectroscopic measurements show that the surface of the object is spectrally red, consistent with comets or organic-rich asteroids that reside within the Solar System. Light-curve observations indicate that the object has an extremely oblong shape, with a length about ten times its width, and a mean radius of about 102 metres assuming an albedo of 0.04. No known objects in the Solar System have such extreme dimensions. The presence of 'Oumuamua in the Solar System suggests that previous estimates of the number density of interstellar objects, based on the assumption that all such objects were cometary, were pessimistically low. Planned upgrades to contemporary asteroid survey instruments and improved data processing techniques are likely to result in the detection of more interstellar objects in the coming years.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 92%

A brief visit from a red and extremely elongated interstellar asteroid

Meech

Weryk

Micheli

et al. 2017

Nature

388

437

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show abstract

“…However, in our size range the geometric mean of their amplitudes appears to be roughly constant. Both Domokos et al (2009) and Henych & Pravec (2015) simulated the effect of subcatastrophic collisions on the elongation of small asteroids (D < 20km). They demonstrated that the cumulative effect of collisions should lead to an increase in the target object's elongation, occurring over shorter timescales at smaller sizes.…”

Section: Asteroid Elongation Dependence On Sizementioning

confidence: 99%

Brightness variation distributions among main belt asteroids from sparse light-curve sampling with Pan-STARRS 1

McNeill

Fitzsimmons

Jedicke

et al. 2016

Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc.

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The rotational state of asteroids is controlled by various physical mechanisms including collisions, internal damping and the Yarkovsky-O'Keefe-Radzievskii-Paddack (YORP) effect. We have analysed the changes in magnitude between consecutive detections of ∼ 60,000 asteroids measured by the PanSTARRS 1 survey during its first 18 months of operations. We have attempted to explain the derived brightness changes physically and through the application of a simple model. We have found a tendency toward smaller magnitude variations with decreasing diameter for objects of 1 < D < 8 km. Assuming the shape distribution of objects in this size range to be independent of size and composition our model suggests a population with average axial ratios 1 : 0.85 ± 0.13 : 0.71 ± 0.13, with larger objects more likely to have spin axes perpendicular to the orbital plane.

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“…In their opinion, this is in agreement with the predictions of an impact-driven evolution of the asteroid shapes (KA03). Domokos et al (2009) studied the role of microcollisions on the overall shape of asteroids in their averaged continuum abrasion model. Their asteroid models evolve to prolonged shapes that possess large, flat areas separated by edges.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Slowly increasing elongations of non-spherical asteroids caused by collisions

Henych

Pravec

2015

Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc.

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Asteroids are frequently colliding with small projectiles. Although each individual small collision is not very important, their cumulative effect can substantially change topography and also the overall shape of an asteroid. We run simulations of random collisions onto a single target asteroid represented by triaxial ellipsoid. We investigated asteroids of several hundred meters to about 18 km in diameter for which we assumed all material excavated by the collision to escape the asteroid. The cumulative effect of these collisions is an increasing elongation of the asteroid figure. However, the estimated timescale of this process is much longer than the collisional lifetime of asteroids. Therefore, we conclude that small collisions are probably not responsible for the overall shape of small asteroids.

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Formation of Sharp Edges and Planar Areas of Asteroids by Polyhedral Abrasion

Cited by 59 publications

References 31 publications

A brief visit from a red and extremely elongated interstellar asteroid

A brief visit from a red and extremely elongated interstellar asteroid

Brightness variation distributions among main belt asteroids from sparse light-curve sampling with Pan-STARRS 1

Slowly increasing elongations of non-spherical asteroids caused by collisions

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