Astronomical Observations of Volatiles on Asteroids

Andrew S. Rivkin, Humberto Campins, Joshua P. Emery, Ellen S. Howell, Javier Licandro, Driss Takir, Faith Vilas

(Submitted on 23 Feb 2015)

We have long known that water and hydroxyl are important components in meteorites and asteroids. However, in the time since the publication of Asteroids III, evolution of astronomical instrumentation, laboratory capabilities, and theoretical models have led to great advances in our understanding of H2O/OH on small bodies, and spacecraft observations of the Moon and Vesta have important implications for our interpretations of the asteroidal population. We begin this chapter with the importance of water/OH in asteroids, after which we will discuss their spectral features throughout the visible and near-infrared. We continue with an overview of the findings in meteorites and asteroids, closing with a discussion of future opportunities, the results from which we can anticipate finding in Asteroids V. Because this topic is of broad importance to asteroids, we also point to relevant in-depth discussions elsewhere in this volume.

Comments: Chapter to appear in the (University of Arizona Press) Space Science Series Book: Asteroids IV

Subjects: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP)

Cite as: arXiv:1502.06442 [astro-ph.EP] (or arXiv:1502.06442v1 [astro-ph.EP] for this version)

Submission history

From: Andrew Rivkin 

[v1] Mon, 23 Feb 2015 14:34:45 GMT (2080kb)

http://arxiv.org/abs/1502.06442

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