Quantitative estimation of water contents of C-type asteroids

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26610177
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Geochemistry/Cosmochemistry
• Research Institution: Tohoku University
• Principal Investigator: Nakamura Tomoki 東北大学, 理学(系)研究科(研究院), 教授 (20260721)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 宇宙地球化学

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Experimental heating of Murchison CM chondrite that came from hydrous C-type asteroid was carried out in order to estimate water contents of primitive asteroids. The experiments revealed changes of water contents and mineralogical characteristics of the heated Murchison samples with increasing heating temperatures. Heating at 600°C or higher results in almost complete loss of water from Murchison and thus changes hydrous mineralogy to anhydrous one. A correlation between depths of 3-μm band and water contents was found from experimental heating of Murchison and, based on this relation, the water contents of the hydrous primitive asteroids will be estimated in the near future.

Free Research Field

惑星科学