Rubble Pile Asteroids
Abstract
The moniker rubble pile is typically applied to all Solar System bodies >200 m and ≲10 km in diameter; in this size range, there is an abundance of evidence that nearly every object is bound primarily by self-gravity, with significant void space or bulk porosity between irregularly shaped constituent particles. The understanding of this population is derived from wide-ranging population studies of derived shape and spin, decades of observational studies in numerous wavelengths, evidence left behind from impacts on planets and moons, and the in situ study of a few objects via spacecraft flyby or rendezvous. The internal structure, however, which is responsible for the name rubble pile, is never directly observed but belies a violent history. Many or most of the asteroids on near-Earth orbits and those most accessible for rendezvous and in situ study are likely by-products of the continued collisional evolution of the main asteroid belt.
- Publication:
-
Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Pub Date:
- September 2018
- DOI:
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1810.01815
- Bibcode:
- 2018ARA&A..56..593W
- Keywords:
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- Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- 40 pages, 14 figures
