Surface regolith model of near-Earth asteroid (3200) Phaethon
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arXiv: 2610.29383v1 · Summary page
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Two ways to read an asteroid’s ingredients
For Phaethon, the near-Earth asteroid thought to be the source of the Geminid meteor shower, researchers have built a surface model that reproduces published measurements of its spectrum, polarization and reflectivity. Their best fit mixes large olivine grains containing inclusions of troilite, an iron sulfide, with smaller porous troilite aggregates. Changes in the size and abundance of those small, dark particles could explain differing observations of the surface. The inferred troilite content favours CM-type carbonaceous meteorites as an analogue for Phaethon, though this remains an interpretation of remote measurements rather than a direct sample analysis.
A separate preprint takes the direct route, reporting concentrations of 63 elements in about eight grams of material returned from asteroid Bennu and analysed across four laboratories. The samples showed no statistically significant compositional differences at the tested aggregate scales. Their combined average, named Best Bulk Bennu, closely matches CI carbonaceous chondrites within analytical uncertainties. That agreement supports the conclusion that terrestrial alteration of CI meteorites has not substantially changed their overall abundances of non-highly volatile elements, reinforcing their value—and that of returned asteroid samples—as references for the bulk composition of the Solar System.
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