Publication Date:
2012-05-15
Description:
Multispectral images (0.44 to 0.98 mum) of asteroid (4) Vesta obtained by the Dawn Framing Cameras reveal global color variations that uncover and help understand the north-south hemispherical dichotomy. The signature of deep lithologies excavated during the formation of the Rheasilvia basin on the south pole has been preserved on the surface. Color variations (band depth, spectral slope, and eucrite-diogenite abundance) clearly correlate with distinct compositional units. Vesta displays the greatest variation of geometric albedo (0.10 to 0.67) of any asteroid yet observed. Four distinct color units are recognized that chronicle processes--including impact excavation, mass wasting, and space weathering--that shaped the asteroid's surface. Vesta's color and photometric diversity are indicative of its status as a preserved, differentiated protoplanet.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Reddy, Vishnu -- Nathues, Andreas -- Le Corre, Lucille -- Sierks, Holger -- Li, Jian-Yang -- Gaskell, Robert -- McCoy, Timothy -- Beck, Andrew W -- Schroder, Stefan E -- Pieters, Carle M -- Becker, Kris J -- Buratti, Bonnie J -- Denevi, Brett -- Blewett, David T -- Christensen, Ulrich -- Gaffey, Michael J -- Gutierrez-Marques, Pablo -- Hicks, Michael -- Keller, Horst Uwe -- Maue, Thorsten -- Mottola, Stefano -- McFadden, Lucy A -- McSween, Harry Y -- Mittlefehldt, David -- O'Brien, David P -- Raymond, Carol -- Russell, Christopher -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2012 May 11;336(6082):700-4. doi: 10.1126/science.1219088.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Max-Planck-Strasse 2, 37191 Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany. reddy@mps.mpg.de〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22582258" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
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Chemistry and Pharmacology
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Computer Science
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Medicine
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Natural Sciences in General
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Physics
