Space Weathering of Small Bodies

Details Space Weathering of Small Bodies Space Weathering of Small Bodies

Dec 2002

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2002agufm.p52c..02m&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2002, abstract #P52C-02

Physics

6008 Composition, 6055 Surfaces And Interiors, 6061 Remote Sensing, 6094 Instruments And Techniques

Scientific paper

Space weathering is defined as any process that wears away and alters surfaces, here confined to small bodies in the Solar System. Mechanisms which possibly alter asteroid and comet surfaces include solar wind bombardment, UV radiation, cosmic ray bombardment, micrometeorite bombardment. These processes are likely to contribute to surface processes differently. For example, solar wind bombardment would be more important on a body closer to the Sun compared to a comet where cosmic ray bombardment might be a more significant weathering mechanism. How can we measure the effects of space weathering? A big problem is that we don't know the nature of the surface before it was weathered. We are in a new era in the study of surface processes on small bodies brought about by the availability of spatially resolved, color and spectral measurements of asteroids from Galileo and NEAR. What processes are active on which bodies? What physics controls surface processes in different regions of the solar system? How do processes differ on different bodies of different physical and chemical properties? What combinations of observable parameters best address the nature of surface processes? Are there alternative explanations for the observed parameters that have been attributed to space weathering? Should we retain the term, space weathering? How can our understanding of space weathering on the Moon help us understand it on asteroids and comets? Finally, we have to leave behind some presuppositions, one being that there is evidence of space weathering based on the fact that the optical properties of S-type asteroids differs from those of ordinary chondrites.

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