Between Mars and Jupiter lies an incredibly rare metallic asteroid that is worth more than the entire world economy. The Hubble Space Telescope has now provided us with a closer look at the object, which is estimated to be worth $10 quadrillion dollars.
New research published this week in The Planetary Science
Journal looks deeper than ever before into the secrets of the asteroid 16
Psyche, one of the solar system's most enormous objects in the main asteroid
belt around Mars and Jupiter, roughly 230 million miles from Earth. It has a
diameter of around 140 miles or nearly the size of Massachusetts.
Most asteroids consist of rock or ice. But 16 Psyche is
dense and composed mostly of metal, likely the remnant core of a planet that
never fully formed — a so-called "protoplanet" whose mantle was
stripped away by collisions that revealed its core.
This research represents the first ultraviolet (UV)
observations of the celestial body. The asteroid may be composed completely of
iron and nickel, which are present in the dense cores of planets, according to
new findings.
"We've seen meteorites that are mostly metal, but
Psyche could be unique in that it might be an asteroid that is totally made of
iron and nickel," lead author Dr. Tracy Becker said in a statement.
"Earth has a metal core, a mantle and crust. It's possible that as a
Psyche protoplanet was forming, it was struck by another object in our solar
system and lost its mantle and crust."
Scientists examined the asteroid at two points throughout
its rotation in order to examine the UV wavelength information of both sides.
They discovered that the surface may be composed mostly of iron, but cautioned
that even a modest quantity of iron would dominate UV data.
"We were able to identify for the first time on any
asteroid what we think are iron oxide ultraviolet absorption bands,"
Becker said. "This is an indication that oxidation is happening on the
asteroid, which could be a result of the solar wind hitting the surface."
The solar wind is the movement of charged particles across
the solar system from the sun's upper atmosphere, known as the corona. It is
responsible for comet tails, aurora formations, and the putative "space
weathering" of Psyche.
Researchers also reported that the asteroid grew more
reflective at deeper UV wavelengths, which may indicate its age.
"This is something that we need to study further,"
Becker said. "This could be indicative of it being exposed in space for so
long. This type of UV brightening is often attributed to space
weathering."
Metal asteroids are uncommon, therefore Psyche gives a
fascinating chance for scientists to examine the inside of a planet. NASA
intends to send the unmanned spacecraft Psyche on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket
in 2022 in order to investigate the asteroid in an effort to understand its
history and that of related asteroids. This will be the first time a mission
will visit a fully metallic body.
In January 2026, the orbiter will arrive at the asteroid to
investigate it for about two years. The head of the project at Arizona State
University thinks that the iron alone would be worth $10,000 quadrillion
dollars on the current market.
"What makes Psyche and the other asteroids so
interesting is that they're considered to be the building blocks of the solar
system," Becker said. "To understand what really makes up a planet
and to potentially see the inside of a planet is fascinating. Once we get to
Psyche, we're really going to understand if that's the case, even if it doesn't
turn out as we expect. Any time there's a surprise, it's always exciting.
References: Peer reviewed research, Press Release