Connotea
CiteULike
del.ico.us
BibSonomyAbstract
The first detection of water absorption on a D type asteroid
Department of Earth and Planetary Science, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
Department of Geological Sciences, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA
Lunar Mission Research Center, National Space Development Agency of Japan, Tsukuba, Japan
Research Division for Planetary Science, Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Sagamihara, Japan
Research Division for Planetary Science, Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Sagamihara, Japan
Research Division for Planetary Science, Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Sagamihara, Japan
Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Tokyo, Japan
Division of Radio Astronomy, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Mitaka, Japan
Subaru Telescope, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Hilo, Hawaii, USA
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: (2003), The first detection of water absorption on a D type asteroid, Geophys. Res. Lett., 30(17), 1909, doi:10.1029/2003GL017907.
Cited By