VERNAZZA , Pierre

Abstract We present the results of a campaign of hypervelocity impact experiments on natural mesosiderite targets, using representative main asteroid belt impact speeds. The objective is to document further the surface evolution of iron-rich asteroids. In contrast with iron meteorites, we demonstrate the fragile behavior of mesosiderite at...

Abstract We present the results of a campaign of hypervelocity impact experiments on natural mesosiderite targets, using representative main asteroid belt impact speeds. The objective is to document further the surface evolution of iron-rich asteroids. In contrast with iron meteorites, we demonstrate the fragile behavior of mesosiderite at...

We present the results of a campaign of hypervelocity impact experiments on natural mesosiderite targets, using representative main asteroid belt impact speeds. The objective is to document further the surface evolution of iron-rich asteroids. In contrast with iron meteorites, we demonstrate the fragile behavior of mesosiderite at impact since...

The vast majority of the geological constraints (i.e., internal structure via the density, cratering history) for main belt asteroids have so far been obtained via dedicated interplanetary missions (e.g., Rosetta, DAWN). The high angular resolution of SPHERE/ZIMPOL (one pixel represents 3.6 x 3.6 mas on sky), the new-generation visible...

The article presents the concept of a new spectrograph designed to observe asteroids. The main objective of this instrument is the coverage in one shot of the wavelengths interval of the visible and near-infrared, between 0.5 and 1.6 μm. The spectrograph is designed to observe in low resolution and to characterize the minerals at the surface of...

As part of our ESO large program (ID 199.C-0074), we observed asteroid (7) Iris with the VLT/SPHERE/ZIMPOL instrument throughout its rotation during two consecutive nights in October 2017 (five different epochs). Iris, which is one of the four D>200 km S-type main belt asteroids along with (3) Juno, (15) Eunomia and (29) Amphitrite, is an...

Until recently, only three large main belt asteroids, Ceres, Vesta and Lutetia, had been imaged with a high level of detail, as they were visited by the space missions Dawn and Rosetta of NASA and the European Space Agency, respectively. The previously small number of detailed observations of asteroids meant that, until now, key characteristics...

"Where do meteorites come from?" has been an enduring question in planetary science, placing "traceability" (e.g. sample return) at the forefront of current exploration. Towards this goal, orbits for 2 dozen recovered meteorite falls have been determined by dedicated teams over many decades. Herewith we now add the orbits for more than 1000...

Large (D>100km) asteroids are the most direct remnants of the building blocks of planets. (2) Pallas is the third largest asteroid and the parent body of a small collisional family. Its spectral properties indicate a B-type surface, meaning Pallas is most likely linked to carbonaceous chondrite meteorites. Disc-resolved images have revealed a...

The Mars Moon eXploration (MMX) mission by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, JAXA, which is going to explore the Martian Moons Phobos and Deimos and also return samples from Phobos back to Earth will also deliver a small (about 25 kg) Rover to the surface of Phobos. The payload of this rover consists of a Raman spectrometer (RAX) to...

Space weathering to redden asteroid surfaces by the solar wind appears to be a very rapid (

We report 491 new near-infrared spectroscopic measurements of 420 Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) collected on NASA's IRTF in the context of MITHNEOS (PI: DeMeo). The measurements were combined with previously published data (Binzel et al. 2019) and bias-corrected for albedo variations to derive the intrinsic compositional distribution of the overall...

Asteroid (16) Psyche is the target of the NASA Psyche mission. It is considered as one of the few main-belt bodies that could be an exposed proto-planetary metallic core and that would thus be related to iron meteorites. Such association is however challenged by both its near- and mid-infrared spectral properties (e.g. Hardersen et al. Icarus...

The nature of the icy material accreted by comets during their formation in the outer regions of the protosolar nebula is a major open question in planetary science. Some scenarios of comet formation predict that these bodies agglomerated from clathrates crystallized in the protosolar nebula. Concurrently, alternative scenarios suggest that...