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Asteroids, comets and Kuiper belt are bodies smaller than planets that orbit the sun. Asteroids are composed of metals and rock, whereas comets also contain ice and dust. The Kuiper belt is a collection of such bodies that orbits at the edge of the solar system.
Thermal inertia is used to infer physical properties of asteroid surfaces. Here, authors propose that the low thermal inertia of asteroids Bennu and Ryugu is driven by cracks in rocks resulting from geological processes within the parent body – or more recently through micrometeorite impacts
Samples returned from the asteroid Ryugu contain all five canonical nucleobases (A, G, C, T and U). Their presence in Ryugu and Bennu supports the hypothesis that carbonaceous asteroids contributed to the prebiotic chemical inventory of early Earth.
Stony near-Earth asteroids may undergo fragmentation of surface rocks triggered by thermal shocks as they pass through the shadows of terrestrial planets, leading to surface rejuvenation, according to orbital simulations and thermophysical modelling.
In this study, the authors study the regolith thickness at the Chang’E-5 region on the Moon. Based on this, they infer an increased small impactor for this area, being about 1.2-1.6 times higher than previously estimated.
Evidence suggests that meteoroid impacts on Ceres can trigger landslides, according to morphometric and absolute dating analysis of landslides and impact craters.
Space missions imaging small asteroid moons revealed the variety in shapes. Here, the authors show that repeated low-speed collisions can explain the shape of Selam, which is the smaller component in Dinkinesh-Selam binary asteroid system.
Kelly Fast, Acting Planetary Defense Officer for NASA, describes the global network working to detect and assess asteroids that could potentially threaten Earth.
The importance of small bodies in Solar System studies is not proportional to their size. Due to their variety of types, scope, and link to Solar System formation, they are one of the most active fields in planetary science.
The Chinese Tianwen-2 mission will perform a double fly-by of two small bodies, sampling a near-Earth asteroid and returning samples to Earth before continuing towards a main-belt comet.
