Young Asteroids Look Old (IMAGE)

ESO

Young Asteroids Look Old

Caption

This is an artist's impression of how the solar wind makes young asteroids look old. After undergoing a catastrophic collision, the color of an asteroid gets modified rapidly by the solar wind so that it resembles the mean color of extremely old asteroids. After the first million years, the surface "tans" much more slowly. At that stage, the color depends more on composition than on age.

Credit

ESO/M. Martins

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