Ryugu May Be Extinct Comet

Intrigued by the presence of high levels of organic matter on Ryugu, scientists propose that rubble pile asteroids may be extinct comets.

IMAGE: The full disc of the asteroid 162173 Ryugu, as it appeared to the Hayabusa2 spacecraft at 03:50 UTC on 26 June 2018. The photograph was taken by the spacecraft’s Optical Navigation Camera — Telescopic (ONC-T) at a distance of 20 kilometres (12 miles). CREDIT: JAXA, ONC team: JAXA, University of Tokyo, Kochi University, Rikkyo University, Nagoya University, Chiba Institute of Technology, Meiji University, University of Aizu, AIST.

Rubble pile asteroids. Here at CosmoQuest, we have a love-hate relationship with these objects, mostly due to our work cataloging All The Rocks on Bennu. Our work helped the [OSIRIS-REx] site selection team decide just where to punch Bennu in the face and collect a sample. Okay…