Material Detail

This page discusses the rubble pile model of asteroids. In it the author maintains that this model provides a better match to observational constraints and new results from numerical impact simulations than other competing models. The page provides evidence for rubble pile asteroids by discussing the rotation period of small asteroids, numerical simulations of asteroid collisions, large craters on asteroids, Mathilde's density, and tidal disruption of asteroids and comets. The author ends with a discussion of the importance in understanding asteroids and asteroid impacts.

Disciplines:

• Science and Technology  / Astronomy