The mechanism by which water is incorporated into the terrestrial planets is a matter of extensive debate for planetary scientists. Now, observations of Vesta by NASA’s Dawn mission suggest that hydrous materials were delivered to the giant asteroid mainly through a build-up of small particles during an epoch when the solar system was rich in dust. This is a radically different process from the way in which hydrous materials are deposited on the Moon and may have implications for the formation of terrestrial planets, including the delivery of the water that forms Earth’s oceans. Maria Cristina De Sanctis and the Dawn team will present the scenarios at the European Planetary Science Congress in Madrid on Wednesday 26th September.
De Sanctis, of the Institute of Astrophysics and Space Planetology in Rome, said, “Vesta’s surface shows distinct areas enriched with hydrated materials. These regions are not dependent on solar illumination or temperature, as we find in the case of the Moon. The uneven distribution is unexpected and indicates ancient processes that differ from those believed to be responsible for delivering water to other airless bodies, like the Moon.”
A team led by De Sanctis studied data from Dawn’s visible and infrared (VIR) mapping spectrometer. Analysis showed large regional concentrations of hydroxyl — a hydrogen and an oxygen atom bound together — clearly associated with geological features including ancient, highly-cratered terrains and the Oppia crater.
Hydroxyl on the surface of the Moon is thought to be created continuously by the interaction of protons from the solar wind with the lunar regolith. Highest concentrations are found in areas near the lunar poles and in permanently shadowed crater where it is very cold. By contrast, the distribution of hydroxyl on Vesta is not dependent on significant shadowing or unusual cold temperatures. It is also stable over time, so its origin does not appear to be due to short-term processes.
The hydroxyl-rich regions on Vesta broadly correspond to its oldest surfaces. Around relatively large and young impact craters, hydroxyl detections are weak or absent, suggesting that the delivery of hydroxyl is not an ongoing process.
The evidence from VIR suggests that much of Vesta’s hydroxyl was delivered by small particles of primitive material, less than a few centimeters in diameter, over a time-limited period. This period may have occurred during the primordial solar system, around the time it is believed water was accreted on Earth, or during the Late Heavy Bombardment, when collisions would have produced a significant amount of primitive material dust.
However, this is not the whole story of hydrous materials on Vesta. The Oppia crater is hydroxyl-rich, but not covered with the primitive material. This suggests that there is more than one mechanism at work for depositing hydroxyl on Vesta’s surface.
De Sanctis said, “The origin of Vesta’s hydroxyl is certainly complex and possibly not unique: there could be various sources, like formation of hydroxyl actually on Vesta, in addition to the primordial impactors. Vesta is providing new insights into the delivery of hydrous materials in the main asteroid belt, and may offer new scenarios on the delivery of hydrous minerals in the inner solar system, suggesting processes that may have played a role in the formation of terrestrial planets.”
Images
http://www.europlanet-eu.org/outreach/images/stories/epsc2012/vesta-hydratation-map1-ver2.jpg
This map from NASA’s Dawn mission of the giant asteroid Vesta indicates the presence of hydrated minerals in white. The data were obtained by VIR, Dawn’s visible and infrared mapping spectrometer, in August 2011 from an altitude of 2700 meters. The data included in the map are from Survey and are limited to 30 degrees north latitude because of the poor illumination condition above that latitude (Vesta winter season). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/INAF
http://www.europlanet-eu.org/outreach/images/stories/epsc2012/vesta-hydratation-map2-ver2.jpg
Annotated version: The map from NASA’s Dawn mission of the giant asteroid Vesta indicates the presence of hydrated minerals in white, with areas with high concentrations circled with a yellow dotted line in the annotated version. The data were obtained by VIR, Dawn’s visible and infrared mapping spectrometer, in August 2011 from an altitude of 2700 meters. The data included in the map are from survey and are limited to 30 degrees north latitude because of the poor illumination condition above that latitude (Vesta winter season). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/INAF
Press Contacts:
Anita Heward
EPSC 2012 Press Officer
+44 7756 034243
anita.heward@europlanet-eu.org
Oliver Usher
EPSC 2012 Press Officer
+44 7754 130109
o.j.usher@gmail.com
EPSC Press office (24-28 September only)
+34 91 722 3020 (English enquiries)
+34 91 722 3021 (Spanish enquiries)
Fax: +34 91 722 3022
Science Contacts:
Maria Cristina De Sanctis
IAPS-INAF, Rome, Italy
+39 3386924948
mariacristina.desanctis@iaps.inaf.it
Christopher Russell
UCLA, Los Angeles, USA
ctrussel@igpp.ucla.edu
Dawn
Following more than a year at Vesta, Dawn departed in September 2012 for the dwarf planet Ceres, where it will arrive in 2015. Dawn’s mission to Vesta and Ceres is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Ca., for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Dawn is a project of the directorate’s Discovery Program, managed by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. UCLA is responsible for overall Dawn mission science. Orbital Sciences Corp. in Dulles, Va., designed and built the spacecraft. The German Aerospace Center, the Max Planck Institute for Solar system Research, the Italian Space Agency and the Italian National Astrophysical Institute are international partners on the mission team. http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/
The Dawn visible and infrared (VIR) mapping spectrometer was built by Selex — Galileo and the Italian Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF). http://www. ifsi-roma.inaf.it/vir/
European Planetary Science Congress 2012
The European Planetary Science Congress (EPSC) is the major European meeting on planetary science and attracts scientists from Europe and around the World. The 2012 program includes more than 50 sessions and workshops. The EPSC has a distinctively interactive style, with a mix of talks, workshops and posters, intended to provide a stimulating environment for discussion.
This year’s meeting will take place at the IFEMA-Feria de Madrid, Spain, from Sunday 23 September to Friday 28 September 2012. EPSC 2012 is organized by Europlanet, a Research Infrastructure funded under the European Commission’s Framework 7 Program, in association with the European Geosciences Union, with the support of the Centro de Astrobiologia of Spain’s Instituto Nacional de Tecnica Aeroespacial (CAB-INTA).
Details of the Congress and a full schedule of EPSC 2012 scientific sessions and events can be found at the official website: http://www.epsc2012.eu/
Europlanet
The Europlanet Research Infrastructure is a major (O6 million) program co-funded by the European Union under the Seventh Framework Program of the European Commission.
The Europlanet Research Infrastructure brings together the European planetary science community through a range of Networking Activities, aimed at fostering a culture of cooperation in the field of planetary sciences, Transnational Access Activities, providing European researchers with access to a range of laboratory and field site facilities tailored to the needs of planetary research, as well as on-line access to the available planetary science data, information and software tools, through the Integrated and Distributed Information Service. These programs are underpinned by Joint Research Activities, which are developing and improving the facilities, models, software tools and services offered by Europlanet
Europlanet Project website:
http://www.europlanet-ri.eu
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http://www.europlanet-eu.org/outreach
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