Psyche Isn’t Pure Iron Asteroid, New Research Suggests planetaryscience space science
Observations of an asteroid group indicate that they may have metal-rich surfaces, but those asteroids with measured densities are about half as dense as expected for a metal body. These low densities require either that the asteroids either have such high porosities that half of their volume is empty space or that the asteroids are a mix of metal and other lower density materials, such as silicate rock.
The asteroid orbits the Sun between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter at a distance ranging from 378 to 497 million km from the Sun. “What we wanted to do with this study was see whether it was possible for an iron body the size of Psyche to maintain that near-50% porosity. We found that it’s very unlikely,” said lead author, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences at Brown University.
The model shows that to remain highly porous, Psyche’s internal temperature would have to cool below 800 K very shortly after its formation. “In addition, any event that may have added porosity to Psyche after its formation — a massive impact, for example — would likely have also heated Psyche back up above 800 K.”Taken together, the results suggest that Psyche probably isn’t a porous, all-iron body. More likely, it’s harboring a hidden rocky component that drives its density down.
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