Asteroid Ryugu may be a remnant of an extinct comet

Astronomers are questioning the true origin of a near-Earth asteroid after observing Japan's Hayabusa2 mission.

The Hayabusa2 mission returned samples of asteroid material to Earth in 2020. The mission gathered important data about the body remotely. According to a statement from Nagoya City University in Japan, the rock samples are still being studied, but the remote observations have revealed three important features.

The remote observations suggest that the asteroid is composed of small pieces of rock and solid material clumped together by gravity. According to the statement, Ryugu is shaped like a spinning top because of its quick rotation.

There are asteroids and comets that are weird.

The observations show that the leftover debris from the collision between two larger asteroids did not originate from Ryugu. According to the study, the remnant of an extinct comet that has lost most of its water ice may be called Ryugu.

Water ice, rocks and dust were left over from the formation of the solar system about 4.5 billion years ago. They form on the outer regions of the solar system. When a comet travels to the inner solar system, it heats up very quickly as it approaches the sun, which causes the solid ice to turn into gas. The rubble-pile asteroid is formed by the rocky debris which is compressed by gravity.

Hitoshi Miura, an associate professor at Nagoya City University, said in the statement that ice sublimation causes the nucleus of the comet to lose mass and shrink, which increases its speed of rotation.

The organic materials left behind as the ice sublimates are thought to contain organic matter.

The researchers used a physical model to estimate how long it would take for the ice to sublimate and how fast the asteroid would speed up. The simulations suggested that the comet spent tens of thousands of years as an active comet before moving to the inner solar system, where it was turned into a rubble-pile asteroid.

The analysis of the samples will help to confirm its origin. Similar rubble-pile asteroids with high organic content may be what comet-asteroid transition objects are called. The OSIRIS-REx mission will provide additional insight into these types of objects.

The small objects that were once active comets have become extinct and are indistinguishable from asteroids.

Their findings were published in a journal.

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