25143 Itokawa - Analysis of Particles Reported in August 2011

Analysis of Particles Reported in August 2011

The 26 August 2011, issue of Science devoted six articles to findings based on dust that Hayabusa had collected from Itokawa. Scientists' analysis suggested that Itokawa was probably made up from interior fragments of a larger asteroid that broke apart. Dust collected from the asteroid surface was believed to have been exposed there for about eight million years.

Scientists used varied techniques of chemistry and mineralogy to analyze the dust from Itokawa. Itokawa's composition was found to match the common type of meteorites known as "low-total-iron, low metal ordinary chondrites". Another team of scientists determined that the dark iron color on the surface of Itokawa was the result of abrasion by micrometeoroids and high-speed particles from the sun which had converted the normally whitish iron oxide coloring.

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