Images from the surface of asteroid Ryugu show rocks similar to carbonaceous chondrite meteorites
Jaumann, Schmitz, Ho, Schröder, Otto, Stephan, Elgner, Krohn, Preusker, Scholten, Biele, Ulamec, Krause, Sugita, Matz, Roatsch, Parekh, Mottola, Grott, Michel, Trauthan, Koncz, Michaelis, Lange, Grundmann, Maibaum, Sasaki, Wolff, Reill, Moussi-Soffys, Lorda, Neumann, Vincent, Wagner, Bibring, Kameda, Yano, Watanabe, Yoshikawa, Tsuda, Okada, Yoshimitsu, Mimasu, Saiki, Yabuta, Rauer, Honda, Morota, Yokota, Kouyama (2019) Images from the surface of asteroid Ryugu show rocks similar to carbonaceous chondrite meteorites Science (IF: 56.9) 365(6455) 817-820Abstract
The near-Earth asteroid (162173) Ryugu is a 900-m-diameter dark object expected to contain primordial material from the solar nebula. The Mobile Asteroid Surface Scout (MASCOT) landed on Ryugu's surface on 3 October 2018. We present images from the MASCOT camera (MASCam) taken during the descent and while on the surface. The surface is covered by decimeter- to meter-sized rocks, with no deposits of fine-grained material. Rocks appear either bright, with smooth faces and sharp edges, or dark, with a cauliflower-like, crumbly surface. Close-up images of a rock of the latter type reveal a dark matrix with small, bright, spectrally different inclusions, implying that it did not experience extensive aqueous alteration. The inclusions appear similar to those in carbonaceous chondrite meteorites.Copyright © 2019 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works.
Links
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31439797http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aaw8627
