Young asteroids look old

Artist’s impression of how the solar wind makes young asteroids look old. After undergoing a catastrophic collision, the colour of an asteroid gets modified rapidly by the solar wind so that it resembles the mean colour of extremely old asteroids. After the first million years, the surface “tans” much more slowly. At that stage, the colour depends more on composition than on age.

Herkunftsnachweis:

ESO/M. Martins

Über das Bild

ID:eso0916a
Typ:Illustration
Veröffentlichungsdatum:22. April 2009
Dazugehörige Veröffentlichungen:eso0916
Größe:3447 x 1772 px

Über das Objekt

Name:Asteroid
Typ:Solar System : Interplanetary Body : Asteroid
Kategorie:Illustrations
Solar System

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