Last week, I talked about some of the upcoming US-based asteroid missions that are in the works. One of those is a mission to asteroid Psyche 16. This week, a new paper was presented at the virtual meeting of the American Astronomical Society’s Division for Planetary Sciences that gives us a clearer picture of the target asteroid.

As I stated last week, Psyche is a dense and mostly metallic asteroid that scientists think is the leftover core of a failed planet in the region of the asteroid belt. In this study, researchers observed Psyche in the ultraviolet at both sides of its rotation to get a different look at the surface. The results were intriguing.

Southwest Research Institute planetary scientist and lead author Dr. Tracy Becker said: We were able to identify for the first time on any asteroid what we think are iron oxide ultraviolet absorption bands. This is an indication that oxidation is happening on the asteroid, which could be a result of the solar wind hitting the surface.

While the observation confirms the presence of iron on Psyche’s surface, it is not a confirmation of the full composition. It turns out that even a small amount of weathered iron could dominate ultraviolet observations. However, the asteroid seemed to become increasingly reflective at deeper UV wavelengths. Becker noted that: This could be indicative of it being exposed in space for so long. This type of UV brightening is often attributed to space weathering.

More studies need to be done, and that mission to Psyche is still exciting to me. I hope it is the core of a failed planet. We can potentially learn so much from one small-ish body in our solar system.

More Information

SwRI press release 

“HST UV Observations of Asteroid (16) Psyche,” Tracy M. Becker et al., 2020 Oct. 26, Planetary Science Journal