Slowly increasing elongations of non-spherical asteroids caused by collisions

TL;DR

This study uses simulations to show that small collisions gradually elongate non-spherical asteroids, but this process is too slow to significantly influence their overall shape within their lifetimes.

Contribution

The paper introduces a simulation-based analysis of how small collisions affect asteroid shape, highlighting the slow elongation process over time.

Findings

Small collisions cause gradual elongation of asteroids.

The timescale for shape change exceeds asteroid collisional lifetimes.

Small collisions are unlikely to determine asteroid shapes.

Abstract

Asteroids are frequently colliding with small projectiles. Although each individual small collision is not very important, their cumulative effect can substantially change topography and also the overall shape of an asteroid. We run simulations of random collisions onto a single target asteroid represented by triaxial ellipsoid. We investigated asteroids of several hundred meters to about 18 km in diameter for which we assumed all material excavated by the collision to escape the asteroid. The cumulative effect of these collisions is an increasing elongation of the asteroid figure. However, the estimated timescale of this process is much longer than the collisional lifetime of asteroids. Therefore, we conclude that small collisions are probably not responsible for the overall shape of small asteroids.