IAFE   05512
INSTITUTO DE ASTRONOMIA Y FISICA DEL ESPACIO
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
artículos
Título:
Space weathering and the color indexes of minor bodies in the outer Solar System.
Autor/es:
Z.KANUCHOVA, R.BRUNETTO, MARIO DANIEL MELITA, G.STRAZZULLA.
Revista:
ICARUS
Editorial:
ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE
Referencias:
Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2012 p. 1 - 22
ISSN:
0019-1035
Resumen:
The surfaces of small bodies in the outer Solar System are rich in organic compounds and carbonaceous refractories mixed with ices and silicates. As made clear by dedicated laboratory experiments space weathering (e.g. energetic ion bombardment) can produce red colored materials starting from bright and spectrally flat ices. In a classical scenario, the space weathering processes ?nurture? alter the small bodies surface spectra but are in competition with resurfacing agents that restore the original colors, and the result of these competing processes continuously modifying the surfaces is supposed to be responsible for the observed spectral variety of those small bodies. However an alternative point of view is that the different colors are due to ?nature? i.e. to the different primordial composition of different objects. In this paper we present a model, based on laboratory results, that gives an original contribution to the ?nature? versus ?nurture? debate by addressing the case of surfaces showing different fractions of rejuvenated vs space weathered surface, and calculating the corresponding color variations. We will show how a combination of increasing dose coupled to different resurfacing can reproduce the whole range of observations of small outer Solar System bodies.