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Astronomy Picture of the Day
Smooth Sections on Asteroid Itokawa
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#83112
by
[z]Barbara Harris
@
29.12.2005 00:00
- nach oben -
Smooth Sections on Asteroid Itokawa
Explanation:
Why are parts of this asteroid's surface so smooth?
No one is yet sure, but it may have to do with the dynamics of an
asteroid
that is a loose
pile of rubble
rather than a solid rock.
The
unusual asteroid
is currently being visited by the
Japan
ese spacecraft
Hayabusa
that is documenting its unusual structure and mysterious
lack of craters
.
Last month, Hayabusa actually
touched down
on one of the smooth patches, dubbed the MUSES Sea, and
collected soil samples
that will eventually be returned to Earth for analysis.
Unfortunately, the
robot Hayabusa craft
has been experiencing
communications problems
and so its
departure for Earth
has been delayed until 2007.
Computer simulations show that 500-meter asteroid Itokawa
may impact the Earth
within the next few million years.
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