The geomorphology, color, and thermal properties of Ryugu: Implications for parent-body processes.
Seiji SugitaRie HondaTomokatsu MorotaShingo KamedaHirotaka SawadaEri TatsumiManabu YamadaChikatoshi HondaYasuhiro YokotaToru KouyamaNaoya SakataniKazunori OgawaHidehiko SuzukiTatsuaki OkadaNoriyuki NamikiS TanakaY IijimaKazuo YoshiokaMasahiko HayakawaYuichiro ChoMoe MatsuokaNaru HirataNaoyuki HirataH MiyamotoD DomingueMasatoshi HirabayashiTomoki NakamuraTakahiro HiroiTatsuhiro MichikamiPatrick MichelRonald-Louis BallouzOlivier S BarnouinCarolyn M ErnstStefan E SchröderH KikuchiR HemmiGoro KomatsuTetsuya FukuharaMakoto TaguchiT AraiHiroki SenshuH DemuraY OgawaYuri ShimakiTomohiko SekiguchiThomas G MüllerA HagermannT MizunoHirotomo NodaKoji MatsumotoRyuhei YamadaYoshiaki IshiharaH IkedaH ArakiK YamamotoS AbeF YoshidaA HiguchiS SasakiS OshigamiS TsurutaK AsariS TazawaM ShizugamiJ KimuraT OtsuboHikaru YabutaSunao HasegawaMasateru IshiguroShogo TachibanaEric E PalmerR W GaskellL Le CorreRalf JaumannKatharina OttoN SchmitzP A AbellM Antonietta BarucciMichael E ZolenskyFaith VilasF ThuilletC SugimotoN TakakiYudai SuzukiH KamiyoshiharaMasato OkadaKenji NagataM FujimotoMakoto YoshikawaYukio YamamotoKei ShiraiRina NoguchiNaoko OgawaFuyuto TeruiS KikuchiT YamaguchiY OkiY TakaoHiroshi TakeuchiGo OnoYuya MimasuKento YoshikawaT TakahashiYuto TakeiAtsushi FujiiC HiroseSatoru NakazawaSatoshi HosodaO MoriT ShimadaStefania SoldiniTakahiro IwataMasanao AbeHajime YanoRyudo TsukizakiM OzakiK NishiyamaTakanao SaikiSei'ichiro WatanabeYuichi TsudaPublished in: Science (New York, N.Y.) (2019)
The near-Earth carbonaceous asteroid 162173 Ryugu is thought to have been produced from a parent body that contained water ice and organic molecules. The Hayabusa2 spacecraft has obtained global multicolor images of Ryugu. Geomorphological features present include a circum-equatorial ridge, east-west dichotomy, high boulder abundances across the entire surface, and impact craters. Age estimates from the craters indicate a resurfacing age of [Formula: see text] years for the top 1-meter layer. Ryugu is among the darkest known bodies in the Solar System. The high abundance and spectral properties of boulders are consistent with moderately dehydrated materials, analogous to thermally metamorphosed meteorites found on Earth. The general uniformity in color across Ryugu's surface supports partial dehydration due to internal heating of the asteroid's parent body.