The incredible color of the asteroid Phaethon has been studied by scientists all over the world.
The the asteroid Phaeton has been one of the mysteries of the Solar System for scientists since its discovery in 1983. However, recent research seems to have found the answer to curious blue color of the rocky body.
Research published in the journal Icarus uses a model to simulate the physical and chemical processes occurring on this asteroid as it orbits the sun.
In this way, a couple of experts have shown “how the extreme heat and the preferential removal of some molecules on Phaethon’s surface could make it blue, and it probably could on any other. “
Phaethon blue asteroid, an unsolved mystery for decades. .
Because the asteroid takes on that blue color
Lisse Careya senior planetary scientist at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, and one of the study’s authors, noted in a statement: “Phaethon is close to being the bluest object that exists in terms of asteroids“.
Specialists argue without a doubt that extreme heat is related to the color of this asteroid. “Its unusually comet-like orbit takes it beyond Mars before plunging just 13 million miles from the sunabout three times closer than Mercury, bringing temperatures to 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit (800 degrees Celsius), “they specify in the statement that releases 20 minutes.
The main person responsible for the study reflected on how many airless rock bodies change color from dull gray to rusty red by the action of cosmic and ultraviolet rays that strike the surface.
Specialists have pondered how the rock bodies change color from a dull gray to a rusty red.
But the question immediately arises as to what happens if these materials are exposed to the harsh temperatures near the sun.
“As molecular species freeze, fuse and vaporize at different temperatures and pressures, it is possible that Phaethon it was once redbut they lost those materials when they were vaporized by the sun’s heat, “they indicate.
details of the investigation
The team found that as it approaches the sun, red organic compounds and small fragments of iron are present on the surface they evaporate earlier than the most resistant rock materials.
“You’re basically removing the redness from the surface,” Lisse says. Although some of the red color accumulates again as Phaethon orbits Mars, it is lost again as it approaches the sun.
What happens to asteroid materials as they approach the sun is critical beyond Earth.
Giordano Steckloffa planetary scientist from the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona, and another of the authors, said, “I was a little surprised that the idea actually worked. It seems crazy to think that maybe it looks so blue because it becomes so hot that it preferentially produces iron gas rather than rock gas“.
But Lisse believes there are even more factors that would explain this blue hue, and it points the eyes “carbon residue that has turned into soot”.
Could this happen on another asteroid?
The two researchers note that this redness-removing process means “potentially any small body could turn blue if it fell into an orbit like Phaeton’s“.
The Hayabusa “kamikaze” probe, which the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency believes contains the first samples of an asteroid. Photo: EFE / JAXA
However, there are some limitations, as the surface of the body, for example, has to be mostly stable and relatively flat.
Looking ahead, many of these doubts could perhaps be resolved with the Mission DESTINY + of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agencywhose launch is scheduled for 2024. We will have to wait at least a few years.
Source: Clarin
