Plagioclase-Rich Itokawa Grains: Space Weathering, Exposure Ages, and Comparison to Lunar Soil Grains

[摘要] Regolith grains returned by the Hayabusa mission to asteroid 25143 Itokawa provide the only samples currently available to study the interaction of chondritic asteroidal material with the space weathering environment. Several studies have documented the surface alterations observed on the regolith grains, but most of these studies involved olivine because of its abundance. Here we focus on the rarer Itokawa plagioclase grains, in order to allow comparisons between Itokawa and lunar soil plagioclase grains for which an extensive data set exists.

[发布日期] 2017-03-20

[学科分类] 天文学(综合)