Other
Scientific paper
Jan 2011
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011aas...21743504h&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #217, #435.04; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 43, 2011
Other
Scientific paper
Recent imaging of the nucleus of Comet Hartley 2 by the Deep Impact (EPOXI) spacecraft revealed a strongly bilobate or peanut-shaped object, reminiscent in general form of several other asteroids and comet nuclei that have been resolved by spacecraft and radar observations. In this work, I use a quasi-static shape deformation model simulating mass wasting (landslides) as a process by which small bodies may be globally reshaped. Such landslides may be caused when variations in the object's rotation rate lead to local slopes exceeding the angle of repose. Increases in rotation rate can cause material to migrate away from the rotation axis, perhaps even leaving the surface. Decreases in rotation rate may cause elongated asteroids to collapse back toward the center of mass, resulting in the apparently common double-lobed peanut shapes. This model predicts that the occurrence of such shapes is dependent on the relative strength and frequency of mechanisms that alter the rotation rate of small bodies. Active (or formerly active) comets, with their jets of volatiles, will probably be most strongly affected by changes in rotation rate and thus may be the most likely objects to display peanut shapes. Small asteroids and inactive comets, which are subject to the YORP effect, may be the next most common, particularly those planet-crossing asteroids which also experience planetary tidal forces. Large main belt asteroids, which have their rotations changed mainly by off-center impacts, will probably be least likely to have double-lobed shapes.
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