Morphology of asteroid (4179) Toutatis as imaged by Chang'E-2 spacecraft

Close observations by the Chang'E-2 spacecraft reveal that the surface of asteroid (4179) Toutatis is characterized by abundant impact craters with most of them being degraded by surface resetting. The less degraded large crater with a diameter of similar to 800m at the south pole is estimated...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geophysical Research Letters
Main Authors: Zhu, Meng-Hua, Fa, Wenzhe, Ip, Wing-Huen, Huang, Jiangchuan, Liu, Tiantian, Meng, Linzhi, Yan, Jun, Xu, Aoao, Tang, Zesheng, Wang, Xiaolei, Qiao, Dong
Other Authors: Zhu, MH (reprint author), Macau Univ Sci & Technol, Space Sci Inst, Taipa, Macau, Peoples R China., Macau Univ Sci & Technol, Space Sci Inst, Taipa, Macau, Peoples R China., Peking Univ, Inst Remote Sensing & Geog Informat Syst, Beijing 100871, Peoples R China., Natl Cent Univ, Inst Astron, Taoyuan, Taiwan., Natl Cent Univ, Inst Space Sci, Taoyuan, Taiwan., China Acad Space Technol, Beijing, Peoples R China., Inst Space Syst Engn, Beijing, Peoples R China., Chinese Acad Sci, Natl Astron Observ, Beijing, Peoples R China., Beijing Inst Control Engn, Beijing, Peoples R China., Beijing Inst Technol, Beijing 100081, Peoples R China.
Format: Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: geophysical research letters 2014
Subjects:
Asteroid (4179) Toutatis
Rubble-Pile Asteroid
Contact-Binary Asteroid
Chang'E-2 Spacecraft
COMPLEX ROTATION
IMPACT
EVOLUTION
CRATERS
4179-TOUTATIS
LIGHTCURVE
DYNAMICS
GROOVES
IDA
Ida
South Pole
South pole
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11897/218077
https://doi.org/10.1002/2013GL058914
Description
Summary:Close observations by the Chang'E-2 spacecraft reveal that the surface of asteroid (4179) Toutatis is characterized by abundant impact craters with most of them being degraded by surface resetting. The less degraded large crater with a diameter of similar to 800m at the south pole is estimated to be produced by an impactor with a diameter of similar to 50m from strength crater scaling relations. From the analysis of large-impact events on highly porous targets, we argue that Toutatis is likely a rubble-pile body and its two lobes are contact binaries. The fact that Toutatis suffered plenty of impacts with seismic shaking resetting the initial surface features but not resulting in catastrophic disruption is probably because of the material's high attenuation of shock wave. Key Points Toutatis was imaged by Chang'E-2 spacecraft at a close distance Toutatis surface has abundant craters that are degraded by surface resetting Toutatis is a rubble-pile body, and its two lobes are contact binaries Geosciences, Multidisciplinary SCI(E) EI 1 ARTICLE mhzhu@must.edu.mo; hjiangchuan@126.com 2 328-333 41

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