Authors
Moe Matsuoka, Tomoki Nakamura, Yuki Kimura, Takahiro Hiroi, Ryosuke Nakamura, Satoshi Okumura, Sho Sasaki
Publication date
2015/7/1
Journal
Icarus
Volume
254
Pages
135-143
Publisher
Academic Press
Description
We performed pulse-laser irradiation experiments of a primitive meteorite to simulate space weathering by micrometeorite bombardments on C-type asteroids. Pellets of powdered Murchison CM2 chondrite were set in vacuum and exposed to pulse laser with a diameter of 0.5 mm and delivered energies of 5, 10, and 15 mJ. We measured reflectance spectra of unirradiated and irradiated surfaces of the pellets. During analysis the pellet was heated to approximately 100 °C and purged in N2 gas in order to reduce absorption of ambient water. The spectra become darker and bluer with increasing laser energies. Their UV reflectance increases and 0.7- and 3-μm band depths decrease from 0 to 15 mJ. The spectral bluing observed in our experiments reproduces the bluing occurred during space weathering of C-type asteroids. High-resolution observation by a transmission electron microscope showed that the laser …
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