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AGU: Geophysical Research Letters

 

Index Terms

  • Planetology: Comets and Small Bodies: Composition
  • Planetology: Comets and Small Bodies: Ice
  • Planetology: Comets and Small Bodies: Origin and evolution
  • Planetology: Comets and Small Bodies: Physics and chemistry of materials
  • Planetology: Comets and Small Bodies: Surfaces and interiors

Abstract

GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 30, 1909, 4 PP., 2003
doi:10.1029/2003GL017907

The first detection of water absorption on a D type asteroid

Ai Kanno

Department of Earth and Planetary Science, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

Takahiro Hiroi

Department of Geological Sciences, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA

Ryosuke Nakamura

Lunar Mission Research Center, National Space Development Agency of Japan, Tsukuba, Japan

Masanao Abe

Research Division for Planetary Science, Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Sagamihara, Japan

Masateru Ishiguro

Research Division for Planetary Science, Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Sagamihara, Japan

Sunao Hasegawa

Research Division for Planetary Science, Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Sagamihara, Japan

Seidai Miyasaka

Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Tokyo, Japan

Tomohiko Sekiguchi

Division of Radio Astronomy, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Mitaka, Japan

Hiroshi Terada

Subaru Telescope, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Hilo, Hawaii, USA

George Igarashi

Laboratory for Earthquake Chemistry, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

The D type asteroids are among the darkest objects known in our solar system. Here, we present infrared spectra of one of the main-belt D type asteroids, 773 Irmintraud. In contrast to previous observations of D type asteroids, we found a gap of reflectance around 3 μm in wavelength. The 3 μm gap is one of the spectral signatures of OH or H2O as water ice or in hydrous minerals, which had formed in the processes of aqueous alteration in the early solar system. We suggest that D type asteroids, which are all the while considered as unaltered primitive material, could be aqueously altered. Our data do support the presence of water on a compositionally primitive D type asteroid.

Received 5 June 2003; accepted 30 July 2003; published 12 September 2003.

Citation: Kanno, A., T. Hiroi, R. Nakamura, M. Abe, M. Ishiguro, S. Hasegawa, S. Miyasaka, T. Sekiguchi, H. Terada, and G. Igarashi (2003), The first detection of water absorption on a D type asteroid, Geophys. Res. Lett., 30(17), 1909, doi:10.1029/2003GL017907.

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