We explore the spatial distribution of organics on Ceres using the visible and near-infrared data collected by the Dawn mission. We employ a spectral mixture analysis (SMA) approach to map organic materials within the Ernutet crater at the highest available spatial resolution, thereby revealing a discontinuous, granular distribution and a possible association with an ancient crater on which Ernutet has been superimposed. The SMA technique also helps us identify 11 new areas as potential sites for organics. These regions are predominantly located within craters or along their walls, resembling the distribution pattern observed in Ernutet, which implies a possible geological link with materials exposed from beneath the surface. In one of these candidate regions situated in the Yalode quadrangle, we detected the characteristic 3.4 μm absorption band in the infrared spectrum, indicative of organics and carbonates. By combining the spatial resolution of the Framing Camera data with the spectral resolution of the Visual and Infrared Imaging Spectrometer using SMA, we investigated the distribution of the 3.4 μm band in this quadrangle. The absorption pattern correlates with the Yalode/Urvara smooth material unit, which formed after significant impacts on Ceres. The association of organic-rich materials with complex and multiple large-impact events supports an endogenous origin for the organics on Ceres.

Comparing how an asteroid appears in space to its ablation behavior during atmospheric passage and finally to the properties of associated meteorites represents the ultimate probe of small near-Earth objects. We present observations from the Lowell Discovery Telescope and multiple meteor camera networks of 2022 WJ1, an Earth impactor that was disrupted over the North American Great Lakes on 2022 November 19. As far as we are aware, this is only the second time an Earth impactor has been specifically observed in multiple passbands prior to impact to characterize its composition. The orbits derived from telescopic observations submitted to the Minor Planet Center and ground-based meteor cameras result in impact trajectories that agree to within 40 m, but no meteorites have been found as of yet. The telescopic observations suggest a silicate-rich surface and thus a moderate-to-high albedo, which results in an estimated size for the object of just D = 40−60 cm. Modeling the fragmentation of 2022 WJ1 during its fireball phase also suggests an approximate 0.5 m original size for the object as well as an ordinary chondrite-like strength. These two lines of evidence both support that 2022 WJ1 was likely an S-type chondritic object and the smallest asteroid compositionally characterized in space. We discuss how best to combine telescopic and meteor camera data sets, how well these techniques agree, and what can be learned from studies of ultrasmall asteroids.

We used the FORCAST instrument on SOFIA to obtain mid-infrared spectra (4.9–13.7 μm) of four S-type asteroids: (7) Iris, (11) Parthenope, (18) Melpomene, and (20) Massalia. Three of these four silicate-rich asteroids (Iris, Melpomene, and Massalia) were observed to have 3 μm features indicative of hydration by McAdam et al. We report a detection of a 6 μm feature that is unambiguously attributed to molecular water on two asteroids, Iris and Massalia, with peak heights of 4.532% ± 0.011% and 4.476% ± 0.012%, respectively. We estimate the abundance of molecular water based on these peak heights to be 454 ± 202 μg g⁻¹ and 448 ± 209 μg g⁻¹, consistent with values found on the sunlit Moon by SOFIA+FORCAST.

Thermal inertia estimates are available for a limited number of a few hundred objects, and the results are practically solely based on thermophysical modeling (TPM). We present a novel thermal inertia estimation method, the Asteroid Thermal Inertia Analyzer (ASTERIA). The core of the ASTERIA model is the Monte Carlo approach, based on the Yarkovsky drift detection. We validate our model on asteroid Bennu plus 10 well-characterized near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) for which a good estimation of the thermal inertia from TPM exists. The tests show that ASTERIA provides reliable results consistent with the literature values. The new method is independent of TPM, allowing an independent verification of the results. As the Yarkovsky effect is more pronounced in small asteroids, the noteworthy advantage of ASTERIA compared to TPM is the ability to work with smaller asteroids, for which TPM typically lacks input data. We used ASTERIA to estimate the thermal inertia of 38 NEAs, with 31 of them being sub-kilometer-sized asteroids. Twenty-nine objects in our sample are characterized as potentially hazardous asteroids. On the limitation side, ASTERIA is somewhat less accurate than TPM. The applicability of our model is limited to NEAs, as the Yarkovsky effect is yet to be detected in main-belt asteroids. However, we can expect a significant increase in high-quality measurements of the input parameters relevant to ASTERIA with upcoming surveys. This will surely increase the reliability of the results generated by ASTERIA and widen the model's applicability.

We report statistically significant detections of nonradial, nongravitational accelerations based on astrometric data in the photometrically inactive objects 1998 KY₂₆, 2005 VL₁, 2016 NJ₃₃, 2010 VL₆₅, 2016 RH₁₂₀, and 2010 RF₁₂. The magnitudes of the nongravitational accelerations are greater than those typically induced by the Yarkovsky effect, and there is no radiation-based, nonradial effect that can be so large. Therefore, we hypothesize that the accelerations are driven by outgassing and calculate implied H₂O production rates for each object. We attempt to reconcile outgassing-induced acceleration with the lack of visible comae or photometric activity via the absence of surface dust and low levels of gas production. Although these objects are small, and some are rapidly rotating, the surface cohesive forces are stronger than the rotational forces, and rapid rotation alone cannot explain the lack of surface debris. It is possible that surface dust was removed previously, perhaps via outgassing activity that increased the rotation rates to their present-day value. We calculate dust production rates of order ∼10⁻⁴ g s⁻¹ in each object, assuming that the nuclei are bare, within the upper limits of dust production from a sample stacked image of 1998 KY₂₆ of ${\dot{M}}_{\mathrm{Dust}}\lt 0.2$ g s⁻¹. This production corresponds to brightness variations of order ∼0.0025%, which are undetectable in extant photometric data. We assess the future observability of each of these targets and find that the orbit of 1998 KY₂₆—which is also the target of the extended Hayabusa2 mission—exhibits favorable viewing geometry before 2025.

Linking near-Earth asteroids to associated meteorites can be a challenging process for many reasons, one being grain size differences. To address this issue for rarer meteorites, we studied visible and near-infrared (0.35–2.5 μm) reflectance spectra of 11 rare meteorite classes over five different grain size bins (45–90 μm, 90–150 μm, 150–300 μm, 300–500 μm, and 500–1000 μm). We analyzed the reflectance properties, diagnostic spectral band parameters (band centers and band area ratios), spectral slope, and taxonomic classification. The spectra were analyzed using principal component analysis to detect trends in principal component (PC) space and the impact on asteroid taxonomic classification in the Bus–DeMeo system. We found that the absolute reflectance (visual albedo) at 0.55 μm (photometric V band) typically decreases with increasing grain size, although there are some variations such as sharp increases for the slabs. Our EH4 and aubrite show a trend of increasing spectral slope with decreasing grain size. Our ureilite, angrite, winonaite, acapculoite, and mesosiderite show a general trend of a decrease in Band I (∼0.9 μm) depth with increasing grain size up to 500–1000 μm. Taxonomic classification of spectra of all grain sizes shows that classification tools generally struggle to differentiate grain size effects from mineralogical variations. This research demonstrates the need for a more robust taxonomic classification system that accounts for grain size and one that accurately classifies small near-Earth asteroids with regolith-free surfaces.

The origins of the giant planet satellites are debated, with scenarios including formation from a protoplanetary disk, sequential assembly from massive rings, and recent accretion after major satellite–satellite collisions. Here, we test their predictions by simulating outer solar system bombardment and calculating the oldest surface ages on each moon. Our crater production model assumes the projectiles originated from a massive primordial Kuiper Belt (PKB) that experienced substantial changes from collisional evolution, which transformed its size frequency distribution into a wavy shape, and Neptune's outward migration, which ejected most PKB objects onto destabilized orbits. The latter event also triggered an instability among the giant planets some tens of Myr after the solar nebula dispersed. We find all giant planet satellites are missing their earliest crater histories, with the likely source being impact resetting events. Iapetus, Hyperion, Phoebe, and Oberon have surface ages that are a few Myr to a few tens of Myr younger than when Neptune entered the PKB (i.e., they are 4.52–4.53 Gyr old). The remaining midsized satellites of Saturn and Uranus, as well as the small satellites located between Saturn's rings and Dione, have surfaces that are younger still by many tens to many hundreds of Myr (4.1–4.5 Gyr old). A much wider range of surface ages are found for the large moons Callisto, Ganymede, Titan, and Europa (4.1, 3.4, 1.8, and 0.18 Gyr old, respectively). At present, we favor the midsized and larger moons forming within protoplanetary disks, with the other scenarios having several challenges to overcome.

On 2020 April 29, the near-Earth object (52768) 1998 OR2 experienced a close approach to Earth at a distance of 16.4 lunar distances (LD). 1998 OR2 is a potentially hazardous asteroid of absolute magnitude H = 16.04 that can currently come as close to Earth as 3.4 LD. We report here observations of this object in polarimetry, photometry, and radar. Our observations show that the physical characteristics of 1998 OR2 are similar to those of both M- and S-type asteroids. Arecibo's radar observations provide a high radar albedo of ${\hat{\sigma }}_{\mathrm{OC}}\,=$ 0.29 ± 0.08, suggesting that metals are present in 1998 OR2 near-surface. We find a circular polarization ratio of μ_c = 0.291 ± 0.012, and the delay-Doppler images show that the surface of 1998 OR2 is a top-shape asteroid with large-scale structures such as large craters and concavities. The polarimetric observations display a consistent variation of the polarimetric response as a function of the rotational phase, suggesting that the surface of 1998 OR2 is heterogeneous. Color observations suggest an X-complex taxonomy in the Bus–DeMeo classification. Combining optical polarization, radar, and two epochs from the NEOWISE satellite observations, we derived an equivalent diameter of D = 1.80 ± 0.1 km and a visual albedo p_v = 0.21 ± 0.02. Photometric and radar data provide a sidereal rotation period of P = 4.10872 ± 0.00001 hr, a pole orientation of (3323 ± 5°, 207 ± 5°), and a shape model with dimensions of $({2.08}_{-0.10}^{+0.10},{1.93}_{-0.10}^{+0.10},{1.60}_{-0.05}^{+0.05})$ km.

The number of planetary satellites around solid objects in the inner solar system is small either because they are difficult or unlikely to form or because they do not survive for astronomical timescales. Here we conduct a pilot study on the possibility of satellite capture from the process of collision-less binary exchange and show that massive satellites in the range 0.01–0.1 M_⊕ can be captured by Earth-sized terrestrial planets in a way already demonstrated for larger planets in the solar system and possibly beyond. In this process, one of the binary objects is ejected, leaving the other object as a satellite in orbit around the planet. We specifically consider satellite capture by an "Earth" in an assortment of hypothetical encounters with large terrestrial binaries at 1 au around the Sun. In addition, we examine the tidal evolution of captured objects and show that orbit circularization and long-term stability are possible for cases resembling the Earth–Moon system.

We present the results of a survey of nominally anhydrous main belt S-complex asteroids. Thirty-three observations of 29 unique asteroids were obtained using the IRTF+SpeX instrument in prism and LXD short modes. We report for the first time that S-complex main belt asteroids have 3 μm features. The majority of the observations (27 of 33) have a detectable 3 μm feature that has at least 1% band depth or greater (within error), indicating the presence of hydration. Most of the asteroids have bands of 1%–2.5% depth, but a notable fraction (nine of the observations) have band depths of >5%. These band depths are comparable to those of low albedo asteroids in the middle and outer belt that have experienced aqueous alteration. We investigate the origin of the hydration, searching for correlations with orbital, physical, and circumstantial parameters. However, we do not find any strong or moderate correlations with 3 μm band depth, indicating that multiple factors may be at play, including exogenic sources, primordial water, and/or solar wind implantation. Additionally, we report the mineralogies of the asteroids, derived from the prism observations.

Conventional narrowband photoelectric photometry of Comet Hale–Bopp (1995 O1) was obtained on 99 nights from mid-1995 to early-2000, yielding gas and dust production rates over an unprecedented range of time and distance. The appearance of Hale–Bopp (H-B) presented a prime opportunity for active comet studies, and its inherent brightness and orbital geometry allowed the characterization of its long-term activity. Throughout the apparition, H-B released, by far, more gas and dust than any other comet ever measured. As a very high dust-to-gas ratio object, dust production was successfully measured throughout the apparition, with the dust consistently slightly red in color. All five gas species including OH and NH were detected just inside of 5 au inbound, while C₂ and C₃ were detected to just past 5 au outbound, and CN was followed until nearly 7.7 au. Heliocentric distance dependencies ranged between −1.2 and −2.7 in log–log space, with the extremes magnified by the large extrapolations in Haser model parameters at large distances. H-B's enormous size and associated extremely high outgassing resulted in a much larger collisional zone, which in turn yielded outflow velocities more than 2× higher than ever previously measured at comparable distances. Even so, volatile composition remained within the "typical" classification, consistent with most Oort Cloud comets, and water production follows the expected curve based on a standard water vaporization model. However, seasonal effects provided evidence for inhomogeneities among the major source regions on the surface of the nucleus. Preliminary modeling of the nucleus and coma successfully matches this seasonal behavior.

In situ mineralogical and chemical analyses of rock samples using a space-prototype laser ablation ionization mass spectrometer along with unsupervised machine learning are powerful tools for the study of surface samples on planetary bodies. This potential is demonstrated through the examination of a thin section of a terrestrial rock sample in the laboratory. Autonomous isolation of mineral phases within the acquired mass spectrometric data is achieved with two dimensionality reduction techniques: uniform manifold approximation and projection (UMAP) and density-preserving variation of UMAP (densMAP), and the density-based clustering algorithm Hierarchical Density-Based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise (HDBSCAN). Both densMAP and UMAP yield comparable outcomes, successfully isolating the major mineral phases fluorapatite, calcite, and forsterite in the studied rock sample. Notably, densMAP reveals additional insights into the composition of the sample through outlier detection, uncovering signals from the trace minerals pyrite, rutile, baddeleyite, and uranothorianite. Through a grid search, the stability of the methods over a broad model parameter space is confirmed, revealing a correlation between the level of data preprocessing and the resulting clustering quality. Consequently, these methods represent effective strategies for data reduction, highlighting their potential application on board spacecraft to obtain direct and quantitative information on the chemical composition and mineralogy of planetary surfaces and to optimize mission returns through the unsupervised selection of valuable data.

The lunar south polar region is an area of interest geologically, and so it is a target for many future missions. These target areas are being investigated in detail, particularly in relation to the illumination conditions, Earth visibility, thermal conditions, and their accessibility. Many of the target areas are thermally interesting as they contain permanently shadowed regions, which are colder than surrounding terrain and therefore potentially harbor volatiles. Understanding the hazards present including craters and boulders within these target areas is critical for a successful mission. Using multiple data sets including Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Narrow Angle Camera images, hazard mapping has been carried out across two areas of interest: CR1 located on the Connecting Ridge between the Shackleton and de Gerlache crater and GR1 located on the de Gerlache crater rim. The hazard mapping was compared to illumination maps, Earth visibility maps, slope maps, and thermal data sets to understand if there are suitable sampling areas. Two potential traverses for both CR1 and GR1 have been identified (one extended and one short). The traverses can be performed within a short mission time frame by either astronauts or by a rover and have multiple sampling points of boulders of geological interest and thermally cold areas for volatile sampling. To ensure maximum scientific return from CR1, GR1, and the surrounding areas, we suggest future missions collaborate with each other when targeting these sites. This will ensure the lunar surface is shared between missions, space agencies, and commercial companies.

The Apollo granulite suite represents the metamorphosed products of impact-contaminated polymict and monomict lunar breccias. We combine bulk and mineral major and trace element systematics with noble gas isotopes to constrain the highland lithologies that contributed to the feldspathic granulite suite protoliths. Ferroan anorthosites dominate the protolith of the ferroan granulite subtypes, whereas a KREEP-poor Mg-rich lithology dominates the protolith of the magnesian granulite. This magnesian lithology, while compositionally similar to Apollo Mg-suite rocks in major elements, is comparably poor in incompatible trace elements. Similar magnesian lithologies have been identified from granulites sampled by lunar meteorites and at the Chang'e 5 landing site. This adds to the body of evidence that a KREEP-poor Mg-suite lithology represents an important rock type within the lunar crust that was not sampled in a pristine form by the Apollo missions. Granulites have a range of noble gas systematics with contributions from solar wind and cosmogenic sources. Samples with a strong solar contribution indicate that they were formed from regolith-rich protoliths with components that had spent significant time at the lunar surface. Solar-wind-poor samples either indicate a protolith with contribution from regolith with limited exposure to the lunar surface or were sourced at depth where such regolith components are absent. There is no correlation between ferroan/magnesian subtypes and near-surface exposure duration. This indicates that granulites were formed from a range of protoliths and highlights the importance of the granulites for expanding the range of lunar highland lithologies, helping to place important constraints for lunar differentiation and crust building.

Within the RoadMap project, we investigated the microphysical aspects of particle collisions during saltation on the Martian surface in laboratory experiments. In earlier works, we followed the size distribution of ejected particles, their aerodynamic properties, and aggregation status upon ejection. We now focus on the electrification and charge distribution of ejected particles. We analyzed rebound and ejection trajectories of grains in a vacuum setup with a strong electric field of 100 kV m⁻¹ and deduced particle charges from their acceleration. The ejected particles have sizes of about 10–100 μm. They carry charges up to 10⁵ e or charge densities up to >10⁷ e mm⁻².