Seminar

Asteroids have been exposed to impacts since their formation, and as a consequence their surfaces are covered by small particles, pebbles, and boulders. The study of collected micron-sized particles from the regolith of asteroid 25143 Itokawa by JAXA mission Hayabusa in terrestrial laboratories is a scientific opportunity to infer their physical properties and compare with characteristic of chondritic meteorites that are often considered proxies of the building materials of solar system planetary bodies. Moreover, carbonaceous chondrite meteorites are so far the only available samples representing carbon-rich asteroids and in order to allow future comparison with samples returned by another missions such as Hayabusa 2 and OSIRIS-Rex, is important to understand their physical properties. Future characterization of asteroid primitive classes, some of them targeted by sample-return missions, requires a better understanding of their mineralogy, the consequences of the exposure to space weathering, and how both affect the reflectance behavior of these objects. The reflective properties of CV and CK chondrites and the comparison with the Cg asteroid reflectance class point toward a common chondritic reservoir from which the CV-CK asteroids collisionally evolved.

Additional information: Dr. Safoura Tanbakouei, stanba@hku.hk