In 2014, Japan Area Company JAXA launched the spacecraft Hayabusa 2 to the asteroid Ryugu. It landed on an asteroid in June 2018 and was studying from orbit for over a year. Hayabusa 2 even sent 4 rovers to an asteroid location.
After departure, it flew to Earth last December 2020, lowering the Ryugu pattern. Of all the scientific results from those amazing, perhaps the most fascinating, machines: Asteroid Ryugu will never be an asteroid. Probably a remnant of the comet.
What Did Hayabusa 2 Find?
The Hayabusa 2 mission has confirmed that the asteroid Ryugu is a massive rock mass. As an alternative to being a single lump of large rock, monolithic, a combination of small rocks.
Like other asteroids, it formed at a circular height. The rapid rotation of the asteroid solidifies it into this form.
The authors state that “the widely accepted form of Ryugu formation is a catastrophic collision between large asteroids and a lazy accumulation of gravitational gravity.”
Numerous evidence of Hayabusa 2 supports the notion that Ryugu is a celestial star, which astronomers thought was true since its discovery in 1999.
Yet one thing stood out among the many pieces of evidence that does not support the interpretation of the sky: Ryugu is extremely focused on the subject of nature.
Read: How big is the asteroid that’s coming in 2022?
Questions Raised After This Exploration?
If Ryugu is a massive asteroid that has been formed as a result of collisions with two tiny asteroids, then why is it such a highly concentrated natural phenomenon?
That question rests on the heart of a new study published in The Astronomical Journal Letters entitled “The Asteroid 162173 Ryugu: a Cometary Origin.” The lead creator is Professor Hitoshi Miura, who is the Ambassador of Nagoya Metropolis College.
In their paper, the authors speculate that Ryugu will not only be a fossil of a comet, but rubble-pile-related asteroids may be pre-existing comets. Astronomers name these objects as objects of the Comet Asteroid Transition (CAT).
A type of comet in the middle of the cooler remote areas of the Photovoltaic system. Not like asteroids, which are all rocky, comets are icy and combine hot rocks and ice. Volatile comets are mainly water ice, but comets include frozen carbon dioxide, ammonia, methane, and carbon monoxide. Astronomers often refer to them as “soiled snowballs.”
Comets have a non-binding surface. When using the solar method, heat dissolves certain volatile organisms, often entering the house. Nature covers mud over unstable gases.
However, after passing close to the Solar several times, some comets have placed in the wrong place all their winds. All that is left is a rock. These are commonly referred to as extinct comets.
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Is Ryugu A Comet or An Asteroid?
Ryugu turns quickly, possibly from its earlier life as a comet. “Ice sublimation causes the comet nucleus to lose weight and shrink, which will increase its rotational speed,” said lead creator Miura in a press release. “As a result of this rotation, the star’s nucleus may catch the rotation speed needed to take the spinning form at the top.”
In response to Miura, speculation of a missing comet may clarify the excess content of a natural object. Natural molecules found include CO, CO2, methanol, carbonyl sulfide, formaldehyde, formic acid, methane, and cyanate.
“In addition, the frozen portions of the comet are thought to comprise the natural elements produced between the stars. These organisms can be formed into abandoned rock particles because of the flexibility of the ice. ”
Ryugu and similar have some organisms as carbonaceous chondrite asteroids, but they look down. “Traditional concentration can result in excessive environmental content considered in albedo,” the paper said.
Analysts test their guessing by comparing numbers. They calculated how long it would take for Ryugu to lose all its sensitivity and grow into a rocky residue. In addition, they calculated the increase in rotation speed needed to build the asteroid into what it is today.
“Our statistics show that Ryugu was still a comet and energetic star for the first time in 10k years and spent the rest of its flexible life as a massive asteroid,” the study said. “This situation is accompanied by the changing flexibility of contemporary comets within the photovoltaic system.”
The study focuses on three-dimensional asteroids: superficial spinning, morphology, and excessive concentration. The results show that Ryugu and related asteroids are objects of comet-asteroid transition (CATs).
“CATs are the smallest things that have happened as soon as the vibrant yet mature stars are extinct and apparently indistinguishable from asteroids,” explains Miura. “Because of its resemblance to comets and asteroids, CATs may introduce new information into our voltaic imaging system.”
Hayabusa 2 has returned its Ryugu samples to Earth, and another goal will be to do the same soon. The NASA astronaut OSIRIS-REx has visited the Bennu asteroid, an asteroid similar to Ryugu, and could return its samples to Earth by 2023. Examination of those samples should confirm that Ryugu and Bennu are asteroids or CATs.