Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Sep 2009
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009dps....41.5804s&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #41, #58.04
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
Hubble Space Telescope imaging revealed that the south pole of Vesta is characterized by a large basin 460 km in diameter and 13km deep. Variations in reflectance and composition across Vesta, have been attributed to the exposure of deep crustal and possibly mantle materials, and its spectral link to the HED meteorites further suggests that Vesta was differentiated prior to the impact. It is probably not a coincidence that the impact basin is located at Vesta's south pole, suggesting that Vesta has undergone at least some degree of reorientation. And, since the body is largely relaxed about its current rotation axis, it is probable that the body has deformed to a changing rotational potential since the impact occurred.
As Dawn approaches Vesta for a 2011 rendezvous, we present the result of geophysical modeling of Vesta to determine its interior state prior to impact and the subsequent surface deformation and rotational and thermal evolution of the asteroid. We assume that prior to impact Vesta has achieved complete differentiation and set the asteroid's initial thermal state by specifying a relaxation timescale for the mantle in the range from 106-1010 years. The impact is modeled as an instantaneous degree-two perturbation of the rotation and shape created by the emplacement of the basin. The initial position of the basin is also varied, from nearly equatorial to 60 degrees south. Vesta's coupled rotation and shape evolution is tracked via the body's second-degree gravitational harmonics. The result is a constraint on the degree of reorientation, physical deformation and rotational change that Vesta can sustain as a function of its initial interior state, rotation and the incident angle of the impact.
Moore William B.
Russell Christopher T.
Schmidt Britney Elyce
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