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. 2024 Jul 30;15(1):6205.
doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-50148-9.

Evidence for multi-fragmentation and mass shedding of boulders on rubble-pile binary asteroid system (65803) Didymos

M Pajola  1 , F Tusberti  2 , A Lucchetti  2 , O Barnouin  3 , S Cambioni  4 , C M Ernst  3 , E Dotto  5 , R T Daly  3 , G Poggiali  6   7 , M Hirabayashi  8 , R Nakano  8   9 , E Mazzotta Epifani  5 , N L Chabot  3 , V Della Corte  10 , A Rivkin  3 , H Agrusa  11   12 , Y Zhang  13 , L Penasa  2 , R-L Ballouz  3 , S Ivanovski  14 , N Murdoch  15 , A Rossi  16 , C Robin  15 , S Ieva  5 , J B Vincent  17 , F Ferrari  18 , S D Raducan  19 , A Campo-Bagatin  20 , L Parro  20   21 , P Benavidez  20 , G Tancredi  22 , Ö Karatekin  23 , J M Trigo-Rodriguez  24 , J Sunshine  11 , T Farnham  11 , E Asphaug  25 , J D P Deshapriya  5 , P H A Hasselmann  5 , J Beccarelli  2 , S R Schwartz  25 , P Abell  26 , P Michel  12   27 , A Cheng  3 , J R Brucato  6 , A Zinzi  28   29 , M Amoroso  28 , S Pirrotta  28 , G Impresario  28 , I Bertini  30 , A Capannolo  15 , S Caporali  6 , M Ceresoli  18 , G Cremonese  2 , M Dall'Ora  10 , I Gai  31   32 , L Gomez Casajus  31   32 , E Gramigna  31   32 , R Lasagni Manghi  31   32 , M Lavagna  18 , M Lombardo  31   32 , D Modenini  31   32 , P Palumbo  33 , D Perna  5 , P Tortora  31   32 , M Zannoni  31   32 , G Zanotti  18
Affiliations

Evidence for multi-fragmentation and mass shedding of boulders on rubble-pile binary asteroid system (65803) Didymos

M Pajola et al. Nat Commun. .

Erratum in

  • Author Correction: Evidence for multi-fragmentation and mass shedding of boulders on rubble-pile binary asteroid system (65803) Didymos.
    Pajola M, Tusberti F, Lucchetti A, Barnouin O, Cambioni S, Ernst CM, Dotto E, Daly RT, Poggiali G, Hirabayashi M, Nakano R, Epifani EM, Chabot NL, Della Corte V, Rivkin A, Agrusa H, Zhang Y, Penasa L, Ballouz RL, Ivanovski S, Murdoch N, Rossi A, Robin C, Ieva S, Vincent JB, Ferrari F, Raducan SD, Campo-Bagatin A, Parro L, Benavidez P, Tancredi G, Karatekin Ö, Trigo-Rodriguez JM, Sunshine J, Farnham T, Asphaug E, Deshapriya JDP, Hasselmann PHA, Beccarelli J, Schwartz SR, Abell P, Michel P, Cheng A, Brucato JR, Zinzi A, Amoroso M, Pirrotta S, Impresario G, Bertini I, Capannolo A, Caporali S, Ceresoli M, Cremonese G, Dall'Ora M, Gai I, Casajus LG, Gramigna E, Manghi RL, Lavagna M, Lombardo M, Modenini D, Palumbo P, Perna D, Tortora P, Zannoni M, Zanotti G. Pajola M, et al. Nat Commun. 2024 Nov 19;15(1):10021. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-54185-2. Nat Commun. 2024. PMID: 39562790 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

Abstract

Asteroids smaller than 10 km are thought to be rubble piles formed from the reaccumulation of fragments produced in the catastrophic disruption of parent bodies. Ground-based observations reveal that some of these asteroids are today binary systems, in which a smaller secondary orbits a larger primary asteroid. However, how these asteroids became binary systems remains unclear. Here, we report the analysis of boulders on the surface of the stony asteroid (65803) Didymos and its moonlet, Dimorphos, from data collected by the NASA DART mission. The size-frequency distribution of boulders larger than 5 m on Dimorphos and larger than 22.8 m on Didymos confirms that both asteroids are piles of fragments produced in the catastrophic disruption of their progenitors. Dimorphos boulders smaller than 5 m have size best-fit by a Weibull distribution, which we attribute to a multi-phase fragmentation process either occurring during coalescence or during surface evolution. The density per km2 of Dimorphos boulders ≥1 m is 2.3x with respect to the one obtained for (101955) Bennu, while it is 3.0x with respect to (162173) Ryugu. Such values increase once Dimorphos boulders ≥5 m are compared with Bennu (3.5x), Ryugu (3.9x) and (25143) Itokawa (5.1x). This is of interest in the context of asteroid studies because it means that contrarily to the single bodies visited so far, binary systems might be affected by subsequential fragmentation processes that largely increase their block density per km2. Direct comparison between the surface distribution and shapes of the boulders on Didymos and Dimorphos suggest that the latter inherited its material from the former. This finding supports the hypothesis that some asteroid binary systems form through the spin up and mass shedding of a fraction of the primary asteroid.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1. Dimorphos boulders and size-frequency distribution.
A The study area, highlighted with a blue polygon, identified on Dimorphos. The white triangle represents the DART impact location. B The 4734 boulders identified on Dimorphos outlined in pink. C The Dimorphos cumulative number of boulders per km2. The derived power-law fitting curve in red is obtained for boulders ≥5.0 m. The Weibull curve, highlighted in blue, is obtained for boulders ≥1.0 m. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2. Dimorphos boulders’ global distributions.
The Dimorphos boulder size versus latitude (A), longitude (B), gravitational slope (C), gravitational acceleration (D), potential (E), and heliocentric average insolation (F). The black dots represent the identified boulders, while the contours depict the bi-variate kernel density estimate (KDE) of their distribution in the specified space. Contours are traced at 10% iso-proportions of the normalized probability density estimate. Error bars display the median boulder size within evenly spaced bins, along with the corresponding 99% two-sided bootstrap confidence interval. We underscore that a detailed discussion of all the presented diagrams and their implications for formative and degradation processes in presented inside the “Discussion—Evidence for formation of Dimorphos via mass shedding” section of the manuscript. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3. Dimorphos boulders’ apparent axial ratio.
The apparent axial ratio for all Dimorphos boulders ≥1.0 m (A), ≥3.0 m (B) and ≥5.0 m (C). Source data are provided as a Source Data file.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4. Didymos boulders and size-frequency distribution.
A The surface of Didymos where we identified all boulders. B The study area highlighted with a blue polygon. The 169 identified boulders are outlined in pink. C The Didymos cumulative number of boulders per km2. The derived power-law fitting curve in red, is obtained for boulders ≥22.8 m. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5. Didymos boulders global distributions.
The Didymos boulder size versus latitude (A), longitude (B), gravitational slope (C), gravitational acceleration (D), and potential (E). The black dots represent the identified boulders, while the contours depict the bi-variate kernel density estimate (KDE) of their distribution in the specified space. Contours are traced at 10% iso-proportions of the normalized probability density estimate. Error bars display the median boulder size within evenly spaced bins, along with the corresponding 99% two-sided bootstrap confidence interval. We underscore that a detailed discussion of all the presented diagrams and their implications for formative and degradation processes in presented inside the “Discussion—Evidence for formation of Dimorphos via mass shedding” section of the manuscript. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.
Fig. 6
Fig. 6. Didymos boulders’ apparent axial ratio.
The apparent axial ratio for all Didymos boulders ≥16.5 m (A), ≥20.0 m (B), and ≥30.0 m (C). Source data are provided as a Source Data file.
Fig. 7
Fig. 7. NEAs SFD comparison.
A Comparative plot showing all global boulder SFD obtained for the visited NEAs. B The resulting power-law indices and associated error bars obtained in the specified size range for all stony and carbonaceous visited NEA. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.
Fig. 8
Fig. 8. Dimorphos and Didymos boulder orientations.
Rose diagrams of Dimorphos (A) boulders ≥1 m and of Didymos (B) boulders ≥16.5 m with an apparent axial ratio <0.9. The corresponding mean orientation and standard deviation are also indicated. We recall that Dimorphos is tidally locked with respect to Didymos, and the hemisphere of the secondary observed by DRACO is approximately perpendicular to the Didymos facing-side. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.
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