Rubble pile

The small near-Earth asteroid 25143 Itokawa is a prime example of a rubble pile, with numerous boulders covering its surface

In astronomy, a rubble pile is a celestial body that consists of numerous pieces of debris that have coalesced under the influence of gravity. Rubble piles have low density because there are large cavities between the various chunks that make them up.

The asteroids Bennu and Ryugu have a measured bulk density which suggests that their internal structure is a rubble pile.[1][2] Many comets and most smaller minor planets (<10 km in diameter) are thought to be composed of coalesced rubble.[3][4]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference ChesleyFarnocchia2014 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Hayabusa-2: Asteroid mission exploring a 'rubble pile'. Paul Rincon, BBC News. 19 March 2019.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference MPC-light-curve was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Walsh, Kevin J. (14 September 2018). "Rubble Pile Asteroids". Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics. 56 (1): 593–624. arXiv:1810.01815. Bibcode:2018ARA&A..56..593W. doi:10.1146/annurev-astro-081817-052013. ISSN 0066-4146. S2CID 119530506.