Disruption of fragmented parent bodies as the origin of asteroid families

Details Disruption of fragmented parent bodies as the origin of asteroid families Disruption of fragmented parent bodies as the origin of asteroid families

Feb 2003

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2003natur.421..608m&link_type=abstract

Nature, Volume 421, Issue 6923, pp. 608-611 (2003).

Physics

41

Scientific paper

Asteroid families are groups of small bodies that share certain orbit and spectral properties. More than 20 families have now been identified, each believed to have resulted from the collisional break-up of a large parent body in a regime where gravity controls the outcome of the collision more than the material strength of the rock. The size and velocity distributions of the family members provide important constraints for testing our understanding of the break-up process, but erosion and dynamical diffusion of the orbits over time can erase the original signature of the collision. The recently identified young Karin family provides a unique opportunity to study a collisional outcome almost unaffected by orbit evolution. Here we report numerical simulations modelling classes of collisions that reproduce the main characteristics of the Karin family. The sensitivity of the outcome of the collision to the internal structure of the parent body allows us to show that the family must have originated from the break-up of a pre-fragmented parent body, and that all large family members formed by the gravitational reaccumulation of smaller bodies. We argue that most of the identified asteroid families are likely to have had a similar history.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Disruption of fragmented parent bodies as the origin of asteroid families does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Disruption of fragmented parent bodies as the origin of asteroid families, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Disruption of fragmented parent bodies as the origin of asteroid families will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-911879