Author: Lisa Grossman / Source: Science News
THE WOODLANDS, Texas — The asteroid Ryugu is a chip off the old block.
Planetary scientists on the Japanese Hayabusa2 spacecraft team have narrowed down the near-Earth asteroid’s parent body to one of two larger, more distant asteroids: Polana and Eulalia.“Based on links to those specific asteroids, we can talk about the longer history of Ryugu,” said planetary scientist Seiji Sugita of the University of Tokyo in a March 19 news conference at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference.
Ryugu’s small size, about 900 meters across, and its rubble-pile nature make scientists think the asteroid formed after the breakup of a larger body some 700 million years…
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