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In the main asteroid belt, there appear to be two primary populations of asteroid: a dark, volatile-rich population, consisting of the C-type and P-type asteroids, with albedos less than 0.10 and densities under 2.2 g/cm 3, and a dense, volatile-poor population, consisting of the S-type and M-type asteroids, with albedos over 0.15 and densities ...
These are composed primarily of S-type asteroids, whereas the neighboring Hungaria family includes some E-types. [101] The Phocaea family orbit between 2.25 and 2.5 AU from the Sun. [102] Skirting the outer edge of the asteroid belt is the Cybele group, orbiting between 3.3 and 3.5 AU. These have a 7:4 orbital resonance with Jupiter.
Approximately 8% of known main belt asteroids are similar in composition to 16 Psyche. [10] [11] One company, Planetary Resources, is already aiming to develop technologies with the goal of using them to mine asteroids. Planetary Resources estimates some 30-meter long asteroids to contain as much as $25 to $50 billion worth of platinum. [12]
The surfaces of both asteroids are weak, much weaker than loose sand," Barnouin added. The researchers concluded that Dimorphos is composed of material that flew off the equatorial region of ...
Most smaller asteroids are thought to be rubble piles. [3] Rubble piles form when an asteroid or moon (which may originally be monolithic) is smashed to pieces by an impact, and the shattered pieces subsequently fall back together, primarily due to self-gravitation. This coalescing usually takes from several hours to weeks. [5]
Interlopers are asteroids classified as family members based on their so-called proper orbital elements but having spectroscopic properties distinct from the bulk of the family, suggesting that they, contrary to the true family members, did not originate from the same parent body that once fragmented upon a collisional impact.
Asteroids are somewhat arbitrarily distinguished from many different types of similar objects: small Solar System bodies primarily composed of dust and ice instead of mineral and rock are known as comets; bodies less than one meter in diameter are known as meteoroids; very large asteroids are sometimes called planetoids or planetesimals; and ...
These are primitive asteroids that may have had their materials chemically altered by liquid water. There are 33 known P-type asteroids. In addition to this, P-type asteroids are thought to be found in the outer asteroid belt and beyond. [8] The distribution of P-type asteroids peaks at an orbital distance of 4 AU. [9]