A dehydrated space-weathered skin cloaking the hydrated interior of Ryugu

Noguchi, T. et al. (2023) A dehydrated space-weathered skin cloaking the hydrated interior of Ryugu. Nature Astronomy, 7(2), pp. 170-181. (doi: 10.1038/s41550-022-01841-6) (PMID:36845884) (PMCID:PMC9943745)

Abstract

Without a protective atmosphere, space-exposed surfaces of airless Solar System bodies gradually experience an alteration in composition, structure and optical properties through a collective process called space weathering. The return of samples from near-Earth asteroid (162173) Ryugu by Hayabusa2 provides the first opportunity for laboratory study of space-weathering signatures on the most abundant type of inner solar system body: a C-type asteroid, composed of materials largely unchanged since the formation of the Solar System. Weathered Ryugu grains show areas of surface amorphization and partial melting of phyllosilicates, in which reduction from Fe3+ to Fe2+ and dehydration developed. Space weathering probably contributed to dehydration by dehydroxylation of Ryugu surface phyllosilicates that had already lost interlayer water molecules and to weakening of the 2.7 µm hydroxyl (–OH) band in reflectance spectra. For C-type asteroids in general, this indicates that a weak 2.7 µm band can signify space-weathering-induced surface dehydration, rather than bulk volatile loss.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Daly, Dr Luke and Lee, Professor Martin
• Authors: Noguchi, T., Matsumoto, T., Miyake, A., Igami, Y., Haruta, M., Saito, H., Hata, S., Seto, Y., Miyahara, M., Tomioka, N., Ishii, H. A., Bradley, J. P., Ohtaki, K. K., Dobrică, E., Leroux, H., Le Guillou, C., Jacob, D., de la Peña, F., Laforet, S., Marinova, M., Langenhorst, F., Harries, D., Beck, P., Phan, T. H. V., Rebois, R., Abreu, N. M., Gray, J., Zega, T., Zanetta, P.-M., Thompson, M. S., Stroud, R., Burgess, K., Cymes, B. A., Bridges, J. C., Hicks, L., Lee, M. R., Daly, L., Bland, P. A., Zolensky, M. E., Frank, D. R., Martinez, J., Tsuchiyama, A., Yasutake, M., Matsuno, J., Okumura, S., Mitsukawa, I., Uesugi, K., Uesugi, M., Takeuchi, A., Sun, M., Enju, S., Takigawa, A., Michikami, T., Nakamura, T., Matsumoto, M., Nakauchi, Y., Abe, M., Arakawa, M., Fujii, A., Hayakawa, M., Hirata, N., Hirata, N., Honda, R., Honda, C., Hosoda, S., Iijima, Y.-i., Ikeda, H., Ishiguro, M., Ishihara, Y., Iwata, T., Kawahara, K., Kikuchi, S., Kitazato, K., Matsumoto, K., Matsuoka, M., Mimasu, Y., Miura, A., Morota, T., Nakazawa, S., Namiki, N., Noda, H., Noguchi, R., Ogawa, N., Ogawa, K., Okada, T., Okamoto, C., Ono, G., Ozaki, M., Saiki, T., Sakatani, N., Sawada, H., Senshu, H., Shimaki, Y., Shirai, K., Sugita, S., Takei, Y., Takeuchi, H., Tanaka, S., Tatsumi, E., Terui, F., Tsukizaki, R., Wada, K., Yamada, M., Yamada, T., Yamamoto, Y., Yano, H., Yokota, Y., Yoshihara, K., Yoshikawa, M., Yoshikawa, K., Fukai, R., Furuya, S., Hatakeda, K., Hayashi, T., Hitomi, Y., Kumagai, K., Miyazaki, A., Nakato, A., Nishimura, M., Soejima, H., Suzuki, A. I., Usui, T., Yada, T., Yamamoto, D., Yogata, K., Yoshitake, M., Connolly, H. C., Lauretta, D. S., Yurimoto, H., Nagashima, K., Kawasaki, N., Sakamoto, N., Okazaki, R., Yabuta, H., Naraoka, H., Sakamoto, K., Tachibana, S., Watanabe, S.-i., and Tsuda, Y.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Geographical and Earth Sciences
• Journal Name: Nature Astronomy
• Publisher: Nature Research
• ISSN: 2397-3366
• ISSN (Online): 2397-3366
• Published Online: 19 December 2022
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2022 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Nature Astronomy 7(2): 170-181
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons licence