Ion irradiation of HED meteorites and comparison with V

Ion irradiation of HED meteorites and comparison with
V-type asteroid observations.
D. Fulvio1 ; G. A. Baratta2 ; C. Blanco3 ; et al.
1
Università di Catania-INAF-OACt ;
INAF - OACt ;
3
Università di Catania
2
ABSTRACT
Abstract:
Howardite, Eucrite and Diogenite meteorites (HED) are believed to be linked, together with V-type asteroids,
to asteroid 4 Vesta [1] whose surface, differently from the asteroids’ one, is not weathered [2] (i.e reddened
and darkened).
To estimate the time-scale required for solar wind ions to cause on the surface of V-type asteroids the
observed spectral changes we carried out laboratory experiments on HED meteorites.
The experiments were performed at the Laboratory of Experimental Astrophysics (LASp) of
INAF-Osservatorio Astrofisico di Catania where are studied Vis-NIR (0.3-2.7 micron) reflectance spectral
changes of meteorites due to ion irradiation, as a simulation of space weathering induced by energetic solar
and cosmic ions [3,4,5].
Ion irradiation experiments on HED meteorites significantly extend the results obtained by Vernazza et al.,
(2006) through the analysis of an irradiated HED sample [2]. In particular, we present the results of ion
irradiation experiments on Eucrite meteorites performed using different atomic species such as H+, Ar+,
Ar++ and, for the first time, C+ ions, in the energy range 30 ÷ 400 keV.
This Research has been supported by Italian Space Agency contract n. I/015/07/0 (Studi di Esplorazione
Sistema Solare).
References:
[1] R. P. Binzel A. S. Rivkin, J. S. Stuart, A. W. Harris, S. J. Bus and T. H. Burbine, 2004. Icarus, 170,
259-294.
[2] P. Vernazza, R. Brunetto, G. Strazzulla, M. Fulchignoni, P. Rochette, N. Meyer-Vernet and I. Zouganelis,
2006.
A&A, 451, L43-L46.
[3] G. Strazzulla, E. Dotto, R. Binzel, R. Brunetto, M.A. Barucci, A. Blanco and V. Orofino, 2005. Icarus, 174,
31-35.
[4] R. Brunetto and G. Strazzulla, 2005.
Icarus, 179, 265-273.
[5] P. Vernazza, R. Brunetto, R. P. Binzel, C. Perron, D. Fulvio, G. Strazzulla and M. Fulchignoni, 2009.
Icarus, in press.
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