Asymmetric impacts of near-Earth asteroids on the Moon
Takashi Ito, Renu Malhotra

TL;DR
This study investigates the impact of near-Earth asteroids on the Moon, finding they contribute to crater asymmetry but are insufficient alone, implying an undetected population of impactors.
Contribution
The paper provides the first quantitative simulation-based analysis linking NEA impacts to lunar crater asymmetry, suggesting additional impactor populations.
Findings
NEAs cause a measurable impact flux asymmetry on the Moon.
Simulations show NEAs account for part of the observed crater asymmetry.
Evidence suggests existence of a slow-moving, undetected impactor population.
Abstract
Recent lunar crater studies have revealed an asymmetric distribution of rayed craters on the lunar surface. The asymmetry is related to the synchronous rotation of the Moon: there is a higher density of rayed craters on the leading hemisphere compared with the trailing hemisphere. Rayed craters represent generally the youngest impacts. The purpose of this paper is to test the hypotheses that (i) the population of Near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) is the source of the impactors that have made the rayed craters, and (ii) that impacts by this projectile population account quantitatively for the observed asymmetry. We carried out numerical simulations of the orbital evolution of a large number of test particles representing NEAs in order to determine directly their impact flux on the Moon. The simulations were done in two stages. In the first stage we obtained encounter statistics of NEAs on the…
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