Research suggests hopping space dust makes asteroids look rougher

Jul 12, 2022

New Delhi, July 12 (ANI): According to a new study from physicists at the University of Colorado Boulder, like corn kernels pop in a frying pan, tiny grains of dust may hop around on the surface of asteroids. That popcorn-like effect may even help to tidy up smaller asteroids, causing them to lose dust and look rough and craggy from space. The researchers published their results in the journal Nature Astronomy. Their findings may help scientists better understand how asteroids change shape over time--and how these bodies migrate through space, sometimes bringing them dangerously close to Earth, said Hsiang-Wen (Sean) Hsu, lead author of the study. "The more fine-grained material, or regolith, these asteroids lose, the faster they migrate," said Hsu, a research associate at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at CU Boulder. The research began with a few curious photos. In 2020, a NASA spacecraft named OSIRIS-REx travelled more than 1 billion miles to rendezvous with the asteroid (191055) Bennu, which is about as tall as the Empire State Building.