Evidence for widespread hydrated minerals on asteroid (101955) Bennu

V E Hamilton; A A Simon; P R Christensen; D C Reuter; B E Clark; M A Barucci; N E Bowles; W V Boynton; J R Brucato; E A Cloutis; H C Connolly Jr; K L Donaldson Hanna; J P Emery; H L Enos; S Fornasier; C W Haberle; R D Hanna; E S Howell; H H Kaplan; L P Keller; C Lantz; J-Y Li; L F Lim; T J McCoy; F Merlin; M C Nolan; A Praet; B Rozitis; S A Sandford; D L Schrader; C A Thomas; X-D Zou; D S Lauretta; OSIRIS-REx Team

doi:10.1038/s41550-019-0722-2

Evidence for widespread hydrated minerals on asteroid (101955) Bennu

Nat Astron. 2019;3(4):332-340. doi: 10.1038/s41550-019-0722-2. Epub 2019 Mar 19.

Authors

V E Hamilton¹, A A Simon², P R Christensen³, D C Reuter², B E Clark⁴, M A Barucci⁵, N E Bowles⁶, W V Boynton⁷, J R Brucato⁸, E A Cloutis⁹, H C Connolly Jr¹⁰, K L Donaldson Hanna⁶, J P Emery¹¹, H L Enos⁷, S Fornasier⁵, C W Haberle³, R D Hanna¹², E S Howell⁷, H H Kaplan¹, L P Keller¹³, C Lantz¹⁴, J-Y Li¹⁵, L F Lim², T J McCoy¹⁶, F Merlin⁵, M C Nolan⁷, A Praet⁵, B Rozitis¹⁷, S A Sandford¹⁸, D L Schrader³, C A Thomas¹⁹, X-D Zou¹⁵, D S Lauretta⁷; OSIRIS-REx Team

Affiliations

¹ Department of Space Studies, Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, CO, USA.
² NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA.
³ School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA.
⁴ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY, USA.
⁵ LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, France.
⁶ Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
⁷ Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.
⁸ INAF-Astrophysical Observatory of Arcetri, Firenze, Italy.
⁹ Department of Geography, University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg, Canada.
¹⁰ Department of Geology, Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ, USA.
¹¹ Department of Earth and Planetary Science, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA.
¹² Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA.
¹³ ARES, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX USA.
¹⁴ Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale, CNRS/Université Paris Sud, Orsay, France.
¹⁵ Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, AZ, USA.
¹⁶ Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C., USA.
¹⁷ Planetary and Space Sciences, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK.
¹⁸ NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, USA.
¹⁹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, USA.

Abstract

Early spectral data from the Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) mission reveal evidence for abundant hydrated minerals on the surface of near-Earth asteroid (101955) Bennu in the form of a near-infrared absorption near 2.7 μm and thermal infrared spectral features that are most similar to those of aqueously altered CM carbonaceous chondrites. We observe these spectral features across the surface of Bennu, and there is no evidence of substantial rotational variability at the spatial scales of tens to hundreds of meters observed to date. In the visible and near-infrared (0.4 to 2.4 μm) Bennu's spectrum appears featureless and with a blue (negative) slope, confirming previous ground-based observations. Bennu may represent a class of objects that could have brought volatiles and organic chemistry to Earth.

Abstract

Grants and funding