Morphology of asteroid (4179) Toutatis as imaged by Chang'E-2 spacecraft

• Published in: Geophysical research letters 2014-01, Vol.41 (2), p.328-333
• Main Authors: Zhu, Meng-Hua, Fa, Wenzhe, Ip, Wing-Huen, Huang, Jiangchuan, Liu, Tiantian, Meng, Linzhi, Yan, Jun, Xu, Aoao, Tang, Zesheng, Wang, Xiaolei, Qiao, Dong
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Asteroid Toutatis; Asteroids; Attenuation; Chang'E-2 Spacecraft; Chinese spacecraft; Contact; Contact-Binary Asteroid; Craters; Degradation; Lobes; Rubble-Pile Asteroid; Shock waves; Spacecraft
• ISSN: 0094-8276; 1944-8007
• DOI: 10.1002/2013GL058914

Close observations by the Chang'E‐2 spacecraft reveal that the surface of asteroid (4179) Toutatis is characterized by abundant impact craters with most of them being degraded by surface resetting. The less degraded large crater with a diameter of ~800 m at the south pole is estimated to be produced by an impactor with a diameter of ~50 m from strength crater scaling relations. From the analysis of large‐impact events on highly porous targets, we argue that Toutatis is likely a rubble‐pile body and its two lobes are contact binaries. The fact that Toutatis suffered plenty of impacts with seismic shaking resetting the initial surface features but not resulting in catastrophic disruption is probably because of the material's high attenuation of shock wave. Key Points Toutatis was imaged by Chang'E‐2 spacecraft at a close distance Toutatis surface has abundant craters that are degraded by surface resetting Toutatis is a rubble‐pile body, and its two lobes are contact binaries