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. 2019 Apr 19;364(6437):268-272.
doi: 10.1126/science.aav8032. Epub 2019 Mar 19.

Hayabusa2 arrives at the carbonaceous asteroid 162173 Ryugu-A spinning top-shaped rubble pile

S Watanabe  1   2 , M Hirabayashi  3 , N Hirata  4 , Na Hirata  5 , R Noguchi  2 , Y Shimaki  2 , H Ikeda  6 , E Tatsumi  7 , M Yoshikawa  2   8 , S Kikuchi  2 , H Yabuta  9 , T Nakamura  10 , S Tachibana  7   2 , Y Ishihara  2 , T Morota  11 , K Kitazato  4 , N Sakatani  2 , K Matsumoto  12   8 , K Wada  13 , H Senshu  13 , C Honda  4 , T Michikami  14 , H Takeuchi  2   8 , T Kouyama  15 , R Honda  16 , S Kameda  17 , T Fuse  18 , H Miyamoto  7 , G Komatsu  19   13 , S Sugita  7 , T Okada  2   7 , N Namiki  12   8 , M Arakawa  5 , M Ishiguro  20 , M Abe  2   8 , R Gaskell  21 , E Palmer  21 , O S Barnouin  22 , P Michel  23 , A S French  24 , J W McMahon  24 , D J Scheeres  24 , P A Abell  25 , Y Yamamoto  2   8 , S Tanaka  2   8 , K Shirai  2 , M Matsuoka  2 , M Yamada  13 , Y Yokota  2   16 , H Suzuki  26 , K Yoshioka  7 , Y Cho  7 , S Tanaka  5 , N Nishikawa  5 , T Sugiyama  4 , H Kikuchi  7 , R Hemmi  7 , T Yamaguchi  2 , N Ogawa  2 , G Ono  6 , Y Mimasu  2 , K Yoshikawa  6 , T Takahashi  2 , Y Takei  2 , A Fujii  2 , C Hirose  6 , T Iwata  2   8 , M Hayakawa  2 , S Hosoda  2 , O Mori  2 , H Sawada  2 , T Shimada  2 , S Soldini  2 , H Yano  2   8 , R Tsukizaki  2 , M Ozaki  2   8 , Y Iijima  2 , K Ogawa  5 , M Fujimoto  2 , T-M Ho  27 , A Moussi  28 , R Jaumann  29 , J-P Bibring  30 , C Krause  31 , F Terui  2 , T Saiki  2 , S Nakazawa  2 , Y Tsuda  2   8
Affiliations

Hayabusa2 arrives at the carbonaceous asteroid 162173 Ryugu-A spinning top-shaped rubble pile

S Watanabe et al. Science. .

Abstract

The Hayabusa2 spacecraft arrived at the near-Earth carbonaceous asteroid 162173 Ryugu in 2018. We present Hayabusa2 observations of Ryugu's shape, mass, and geomorphology. Ryugu has an oblate "spinning top" shape, with a prominent circular equatorial ridge. Its bulk density, 1.19 ± 0.02 grams per cubic centimeter, indicates a high-porosity (>50%) interior. Large surface boulders suggest a rubble-pile structure. Surface slope analysis shows Ryugu's shape may have been produced from having once spun at twice the current rate. Coupled with the observed global material homogeneity, this suggests that Ryugu was reshaped by centrifugally induced deformation during a period of rapid rotation. From these remote-sensing investigations, we identified a suitable sample collection site on the equatorial ridge.

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