Is there regolith on small asteroids?

Details Is there regolith on small asteroids? Is there regolith on small asteroids?

Jun 2005

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2005sptz.prop20448m&link_type=abstract

Spitzer Proposal ID #20448

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Scientific paper

It is generally expected that very small asteroids consist of bare rock - unlike the Moon or 'big' asteroids such as 433 Eros, which are known to be covered with thick layers of loose material (regolith). Regolith consists of captured impact ejecta; small bodies below a certain threshold size should be unable to retain this collisional debris due to their low gravity. This threshold size is as yet unknown. A study by Delbo et al. (2003), based on Keck observations of small asteroids down to a few 100 meters in diameter, found no evidence for a regolith-free asteroid amongst their targets. The presence or absence of regolith is a key parameter in the assessment of both the Yarkovsky-effect and the YORP-effect, two non-gravitational effects that strongly affect the orbits and spin states of small asteroids. We propose to observe the intriguing small asteroid 54509 2000 PH5 (diameter ~ 180m) with an ultra-fast rotation rate of only 12 minutes. We expect our target to be regolith-free since its gravity can not match the centrifugal force. On the other hand, if regolith were to be found on our target this would suggest that all asteroids as 'big' as 180m in diameter are covered with regolith.

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