Nature Communications (Aug 2022)

Inferring interiors and structural history of top-shaped asteroids from external properties of asteroid (101955) Bennu

  • Yun Zhang,
  • Patrick Michel,
  • Olivier S. Barnouin,
  • James H. Roberts,
  • Michael G. Daly,
  • Ronald-L. Ballouz,
  • Kevin J. Walsh,
  • Derek C. Richardson,
  • Christine M. Hartzell,
  • Dante S. Lauretta

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-32288-y
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13, no. 1
pp. 1 – 12

Abstract

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Asteroid interiors are key to understand their formation and evolution. Here, the authors show that numerically simulated low-cohesion and low-friction structures with several high-cohesion internal zones can explain asteroid Bennu’s geophysical characteristics and the absence of the moons.