(16) Psyche: A mesosiderite-like asteroid?
M. Viikinkoski, P. Vernazza, J. Hanus, H. Le Coroller, K. Tazhenova,, B. Carry, M. Marsset, A. Drouard, F. Marchis, R. Fetick, T. Fusco, J. Durech,, M. Birlan, J. Berthier, P. Bartczak, C. Dumas, J. Castillo-Rogez, F., Cipriani, F. Colas, M. Ferrais, J. Grice, E. Jehin, L. Jorda

TL;DR
This study refines the density and shape of asteroid Psyche using high-resolution observations, suggesting it is more consistent with stony-iron meteorites like mesosiderites than with pure iron meteorites, and finds no satellites.
Contribution
It provides a more accurate density and shape model for Psyche, challenging the idea that it is an exposed metallic core and supporting its link to mesosiderite meteorites.
Findings
Density of Psyche is 3.99 g/cm³, inconsistent with iron meteorites.
Density aligns with stony-iron meteorites like mesosiderites.
No satellites detected within the observational limits.
Abstract
Asteroid (16) Psyche is the target of the NASA Psyche mission. It is considered one of the few main-belt bodies that could be an exposed proto-planetary metallic core and that would thus be related to iron meteorites. Such an association is however challenged by both its near- and mid-infrared spectral properties and the reported estimates of its density. Here, we aim to refine the density of (16) Psyche to set further constraints on its bulk composition and determine its potential meteoritic analog. We observed (16) Psyche with ESO VLT/SPHERE/ZIMPOL as part of our large program (ID 199.C-0074). We used the high angular resolution of these observations to refine Psyche's three-dimensional (3D) shape model and subsequently its density when combined with the most recent mass estimates. In addition, we searched for potential companions around the asteroid. We derived a bulk density of…
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