Motion of dust ejected from the surface of asteroid (101955) Bennu

From Jan. 6, 2019 to Feb. 18, 2019, OSIRIS-REx observed asteroid (101955) Bennu ejecting 11 plumes of dust, of which part is escaping and another part is re-captured by the asteroid. The relative magnitudes of the typical forces acting on the emitted dust are quite different from the environments of...

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Main Authors: Yu Jiang, Jürgen Schmidt
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2020-10-01
Series:Heliyon
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844020321186
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author Yu Jiang
Jürgen Schmidt
author_facet Yu Jiang
Jürgen Schmidt
author_sort Yu Jiang
collection DOAJ
description From Jan. 6, 2019 to Feb. 18, 2019, OSIRIS-REx observed asteroid (101955) Bennu ejecting 11 plumes of dust, of which part is escaping and another part is re-captured by the asteroid. The relative magnitudes of the typical forces acting on the emitted dust are quite different from the environments of the planets and other minor planets in the solar system. Here we show that ejected dust grains from the surface of Bennu can be caught in the gravitational field of Bennu. To this end, we calculated numerically the trajectories of dust grains of various sizes, from the 0.1μm to the ten millimeter range. The shape and the fate of an emitted cloud of particles depend on the size of the grains: smaller grains form a more narrowly confined dust trail while trails formed by larger grains disperse more rapidly. Four different fates are possible for ejected dust. All grains with radius less than 1.0μm, directly re-impact on Bennu or they escape directly. In contrast, a fraction of grains with a radius larger than 10.0 μm will impact or escape only after performing a number of non-Keplerian revolutions around Bennu. Our findings show how dust grains may populate the vicinity of Bennu and other active asteroids and that they can reach interplanetary space and other celestial bodies, implying that organic matter can be transported from carbonaceous asteroids to other celestial bodies, including Earth.
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spelling doaj.art-58a5d3a3c16049689ced237438c0ad0e2022-12-21T22:46:47ZengElsevierHeliyon2405-84402020-10-01610e05275Motion of dust ejected from the surface of asteroid (101955) BennuYu Jiang0Jürgen Schmidt1State Key Laboratory of Astronautic Dynamics, Xi'an Satellite Control Center, Xi'an, China; School of Aerospace Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China; Astronomy Research Unit, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland; Corresponding author.Astronomy Research Unit, University of Oulu, Oulu, FinlandFrom Jan. 6, 2019 to Feb. 18, 2019, OSIRIS-REx observed asteroid (101955) Bennu ejecting 11 plumes of dust, of which part is escaping and another part is re-captured by the asteroid. The relative magnitudes of the typical forces acting on the emitted dust are quite different from the environments of the planets and other minor planets in the solar system. Here we show that ejected dust grains from the surface of Bennu can be caught in the gravitational field of Bennu. To this end, we calculated numerically the trajectories of dust grains of various sizes, from the 0.1μm to the ten millimeter range. The shape and the fate of an emitted cloud of particles depend on the size of the grains: smaller grains form a more narrowly confined dust trail while trails formed by larger grains disperse more rapidly. Four different fates are possible for ejected dust. All grains with radius less than 1.0μm, directly re-impact on Bennu or they escape directly. In contrast, a fraction of grains with a radius larger than 10.0 μm will impact or escape only after performing a number of non-Keplerian revolutions around Bennu. Our findings show how dust grains may populate the vicinity of Bennu and other active asteroids and that they can reach interplanetary space and other celestial bodies, implying that organic matter can be transported from carbonaceous asteroids to other celestial bodies, including Earth.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844020321186Applied mathematicsAstrophysicsComputational mathematicsMechanicsPlanetary sciencesDust emmision
spellingShingle Yu Jiang
Jürgen Schmidt
Motion of dust ejected from the surface of asteroid (101955) Bennu
Heliyon
Applied mathematics
Astrophysics
Computational mathematics
Mechanics
Planetary sciences
Dust emmision
title Motion of dust ejected from the surface of asteroid (101955) Bennu
title_full Motion of dust ejected from the surface of asteroid (101955) Bennu
title_fullStr Motion of dust ejected from the surface of asteroid (101955) Bennu
title_full_unstemmed Motion of dust ejected from the surface of asteroid (101955) Bennu
title_short Motion of dust ejected from the surface of asteroid (101955) Bennu
title_sort motion of dust ejected from the surface of asteroid 101955 bennu
topic Applied mathematics
Astrophysics
Computational mathematics
Mechanics
Planetary sciences
Dust emmision
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844020321186
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