13
June 2002
Planetary science: Breaking news
An impressive piece of astronomical detective work has resulted in the first ever precise dating for a recent asteroid collision. A group of 39 known asteroids has been identified as debris from a collision that took place 5.8 million years ago. Two of the fragments are large, 14 and 19 km in diameter, and there seems to have been little dynamical or collisional evolution since this big bang. This collection of bodies of varying size, all the same age, should provide answers to many mysteries of the asteroid belt — including the nature of 'space weathering' and the incidence of planetesimal collisions.
The recent breakup of an asteroid in the main-belt region
DAVID NESVORNÝ , WILLIAM F. BOTTKE JR , LUKE DONES
& HAROLD F. LEVISON
Nature 417, 720–771 (2002); doi:10.1038/nature00789
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Planetary science: Rocks that go bump in the night
DEREK C. RICHARDSON
The planets were probably created
by collisions between smaller rocky bodies over many millions of years. The identification
of a recently formed asteroid family will tell us much about the dynamics of these
collisions.
Nature 417, 697–698 (2002); doi:10.1038/417697a
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