by APOD Robot » Sun Jun 19, 2011 4:05 am
The Regolith of Asteroid Eros
Explanation: From fifty kilometers above asteroid
Eros, the surface inside one of its largest craters appears covered with an unusual substance:
regolith. The thickness and composition of
the surface dust that is
regolith remains a topic of much research. Much of the regolith on
433 Eros was probably created by numerous small impacts during its long history. In
this representative-color view taken by the
robot spacecraft NEAR-SHOEMAKER that
orbited Eros in 2000 and 2001, brown areas indicate
regolith that has been chemically altered by exposure to the
solar wind during
micrometeorite impacts. White areas are thought to have undergone relatively less exposure. The
boulders visible inside the crater appear brown, indicating either that they are old enough to have a surface itself tanned by the
solar wind, or that they have somehow become covered with some dark surface
dust. This July, NASA's
Dawn spacecraft will orbit giant main belt asteroid Vesta.
[/b]
[url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110619.html][img]http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_110619.jpg[/img] [size=150]The Regolith of Asteroid Eros[/size][/url]
[b] Explanation: [/b] From fifty kilometers above asteroid [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090607.html]Eros[/url], the surface inside one of its largest craters appears covered with an unusual substance: [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regolith]regolith[/url]. The thickness and composition of [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWg2k0W_Kwo]the surface[/url] dust that is [url=http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1998DPS....30.0703C]regolith[/url] remains a topic of much research. Much of the regolith on [url=http://near.jhuapl.edu/eros/sum.html]433 Eros[/url] was probably created by numerous small impacts during its long history. In [url=http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA02950]this representative-color view[/url] taken by the [url=http://near.jhuapl.edu/spacecraft/]robot spacecraft NEAR-SHOEMAKER[/url] that [url=http://near.jhuapl.edu/intro/faq.html]orbited Eros[/url] in 2000 and 2001, brown areas indicate [url=http://near.jhuapl.edu/iod/20000713/]regolith[/url] that has been chemically altered by exposure to the [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap000318.html]solar wind[/url] during [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micrometeorite]micrometeorite[/url] impacts. White areas are thought to have undergone relatively less exposure. The [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap000824.html]boulders visible[/url] inside the crater appear brown, indicating either that they are old enough to have a surface itself tanned by the [url=http://www-istp.gsfc.nasa.gov/Education/wsolwind.html]solar wind[/url], or that they have somehow become covered with some dark surface [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap011110.html]dust[/url]. This July, NASA's [url=http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/dawn/news/dawn20110613.html]Dawn spacecraft will orbit[/url] giant main belt asteroid Vesta.
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