Other
Scientific paper
Mar 1996
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1996lpi....27..145b&link_type=abstract
Lunar and Planetary Science, volume 27, page 145
Other
Asteroids, Craters: Doublet, Mars, Tides
Scientific paper
A recent survey of Mars' northern plains by Ingrham et al. found a surprising paucity of doublet craters (a few percent) compared with the fraction of doublets found on Earth (with diameters larger than 20 km) and Venus (~10%). Doublet craters are formed from two well-separated asteroids impacting a planetary surface at nearly the same time, such that two distinct craters are formed. Previous results have shown that these asteroids must be separated well in advance of planetary impact, implying that a small but substantial number of asteroids must have satellites. Using a numerical model, we have found that loosely bound asteroids ("rubble piles") encountering Earth or Venus may be pulled apart into large fragments by planetary tidal forces, which under certain circumstances may remain gravitationally bound to one another. We have also found that many of these co-orbiting binary asteroids impact the Earth or Venus while well-separated, and that we can reproduce the fraction of doublet craters found on Earth and Venus. We have now modified our numerical model to investigate asteroids encountering Mars. We find that although Mars' lower density does not prevent loosely bound asteroids from being pulled apart into large fragments, only a small fraction of these binaries become well-separated. Accordingly, our model predicts that less than 3% of the asteroids impacting Mars produce doublet craters, matching observations.
Bottke William F. Jr.
Melosh Henry Jay
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