Numerical simulations suggest asteroids (101955) Bennu and (162173) Ryugu are likely second or later generation rubble piles.

ABSTRACT: Rubble pile asteroids are widely understood to be composed of reaccumulated debris following a catastrophic collision between asteroids in the main asteroid belt, where each disruption can make a family of new asteroids. Near-Earth asteroids Ryugu and Bennu have been linked to collisional families in the main asteroid belt, but surface age analyses of each asteroid suggest these bodies are substantially younger than their putative families. Here we show, through a coupled collisional and dynamical evolution of members of these families, that neither asteroid was likely to have been created at the same time as the original family breakups, but rather are likely remnants of later disruptions of original family members, making them second, or later, generation remnants. Our model finds about

SUBMITTER: Walsh KJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11226714 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature