The Appearance of a “Fresh” Surface on 596 Scheila as a Consequence of the 2010 Impact Event

Dust emission was detected on main-belt asteroid 596 Scheila in 2010 December and was attributed to the collision of a few-tens-of-meters projectile on the surface of the asteroid. In such an impact, the ejected material from the collided body is expected to mainly come from its fresh, unweathered subsurface. Therefore, it is expected that the surface of 596 was partially or entirely refreshed during the 2010 impact. By combining spectra of 596 from the literature and our own observations, we show that the 2010 impact event resulted in a significant slope change in the near-infrared (0.8–2.5 μm) spectrum of the asteroid, from moderately red (T type) before the impact to red (D type) after the impact. This provides evidence that red carbonaceous asteroids become less red with time due to space weathering, in agreement with predictions derived from laboratory experiments on the primitive Tagish Lake meteorite, which is spectrally similar to 596. This discovery provides the very first telescopic confirmation of the expected weathering trend of asteroids spectrally analog to Tagish Lake and/or anhydrous chondritic porous interplanetary dust particles. Our results also suggest that the population of implanted objects from the outer solar system is much larger than previously estimated in the main belt, but many of these objects are hidden below their space-weathered surfaces.

Learning about comets from the study of mass distributions and fluxes of meteoroid streams

Meteor physics can provide new clues about the size, structure, and density of cometary disintegration products, establishing a bridge between different research fields. From meteor magnitude data we have estimated the mass distribution of meteoroids from different cometary streams by using the relation between the luminosity and the mass obtained by Verniani (1973). These mass distributions are in the range observed for dust particles released from comets 1P/Halley and 81P/Wild 2 as measured from spacecraft. From the derived mass distributions, we have integrated the incoming mass for the most significant meteor showers. By comparing the mass of the collected Interplanetary Dust Particles (IDPs) with that derived for cometary meteoroids a gap of several orders of magnitude is encountered. The largest examples of fluffy particles are clusters of IDPs no larger than 100 µm in size (or 5×10–7 g in mass) while the largest cometary meteoroids are centimeter-sized objects. Such gaps can be explained by the fragmentation in the atmosphere of the original cometary particles. As an application of the mass distribution computations we describe the significance of the disruption of fragile comets in close approaches to Earth as a more efficient (and probably more frequent) way to deliver volatiles than direct impacts. We finally apply our model to quantify the flux of meteoroids from different meteoroid streams, and to describe the main physical processes contributing to the progressive decay of cometary meteoroids in the interplanetary medium.

Comet fragmentation as a source of the zodiacal cloud

<p>Models of the thermal emission of the zodiacal cloud and sporadic meteoroids suggest that the dominant source of interplanetary dust is Jupiter-family comets (JFCs). However, comet sublimation is insufficient to sustain the quantity of dust presently in the inner solar system. It has therefore been suggested that spontaneous disruptions of JFCs may supply the zodiacal cloud.</p> <p>We present a model for the dust produced in comet fragmentations and its evolution, comparing with the present day zodiacal cloud. Using results from dynamical simulations we follow individual JFCs as they evolve and undergo recurrent splitting events. The dust produced by these events is followed with a kinetic model which takes into account the effects of collisional evolution, Poynting-Robertson drag, and radiation pressure. This allows us to model both the size distribution and radial profile of dust resulting from comet fragmentation. Our model suggests that JFC fragmentations can produce enough dust to sustain the zodiacal cloud. We also discuss the feasibility of comet fragmentation producing the spatial and size distribution of dust seen in the zodiacal cloud.</p> <p>By modelling individual comets we are also able to explore the variability of cometary input to the zodiacal cloud. Comets are drawn from a size distribution based on the Kuiper belt and fragment randomly. We show that large comets should be scattered into the inner solar system stochastically, leading to large variations in the historical brightness of the zodiacal light.</p>

Ulysses spacecraft data revisited: Detection of cometary meteoroid streams by following in situ dust impacts

<p>Cometary meteoroid streams (also referred to as trails) exist along the orbits of comets, forming fine structures of the interplanetary dust cloud. The streams consist predominantly of the largest cometary particles (with sizes of approximately (100 micrometer to 1 cm) which are ejected at low speeds and remain very close to the comet orbit for several revolutions around the Sun. </p> <p>The Interplanetary Meteoroid Environment for eXploration (IMEX) dust streams in space model (Soja et al., Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2015) is a universal model that simulates recently created cometary dust streams in the inner solar system, developed under ESA contract. IMEX is a physical model for dust dynamics and follows the orbital evolution of the streams of 420 comets. Particles are emitted when the comet is in the inner solar system, taking into account comet apparitions between the years 1700 and 2080. The dust ejection is described by an emission model, dust production rate and mass distribution covering the mass range from 10^-8 kg to 10^-2 kg (approximately corresponding to 100 micrometer to 1 cm particles). The dust production is calculated from the comet's absolute magnitude, the observed water production rate and dust-to-gas ratio. For each emitted particle, the trajectory is integrated individually including solar gravity, planetary perturbations as well as solar radiation pressure and <br />Poynting-Robertson drag. The model calculates dust number density, flux and  velocity.</p> <p>We apply the IMEX model to study comet stream traverses by the Ulysses spacecraft. Ulysses was launched in 1990 and, after a Jupiter swing-by in 1992, became the first interplanetary spacecraft orbiting the Sun on a highly inclined  trajectory with an inclination of 80 degrees. The spacecraft was equipped with an impact ionization dust detector which provided the longest  data set of continuous in situ dust measurements in interplanetary space existing to date, covering 17 years  from 1990 to 2007. In addition to the interplanetary dust complex, several dust populations were investigated with the Ulysses dust instrument in the past: interstellar dust sweeping through our solar system, streams of approximately 10 nanometer-sized dust particles emanating from Jupiter's volcanically active moon Io, as well as sub-micrometer-sized particles driven away from the Sun by solar radiation pressure (so-called beta particles). Here we study the detection conditions for cometary meteoroid streams with the dust detector on board the Ulysses spacecraft and present first results from our attempt to identify cometary stream particles in the measured dust data set. </p> <p>Acknowledgements: The IMEX Dust Streams in Space model was developed under ESA funding (contract 4000106316/12/NL/AF - IMEX).</p>

Digital 3D shapes suitable for the description of meteoroids

<p>Some processes in the physics of small solar system bodies depend on the detailed shape of the body. One of them is the YORP effect, which affects the rotation of asteroids and can lead to rotational bursting. The YORP effect can be modelled because the shape of asteroids can be determined from spacecraft images, radar observations, or inversions of asteroid light curves. A similar effect, caused by the reflection of solar radiation from an irregularly shaped body, affects the rotation of meteoroids. However, this effect is very difficult to model because we are not able to determine the shapes of meteoroids.</p> <p>In this presentation we show our approach to obtain shapes suitable for characterizing meteoroids. For meteoroids of asteroidal origin, we simulated their formation during a collision in the main belt by fragmentation a sample of an ordinary meteorite using explosive charge technique and performed the digitization of fragments. To describe the cometary meteoroids, we used the shapes of interplanetary dust particles determined by X-ray microtomography. Finally, we show a comparison of the ability of the two types of shapes (asteroidal vs. cometary) to be spun up by the solar radiation.</p>