Theory of shock magnetization of asteroids Gaspra and Ida

Abstract

The observed magnetism of asteroids such as Gaspra and Ida (and other small bodies in the solar system including the Moon and meteorites) may have resulted from an impact-induced shock wave producing a thermodynamic state in which iron-nickel alloy, dispersed in a silicate matrix, is driven from the usual low-temperature, low-pressure, α, kaemacite, phase to the paramagnetic, ε (hcp), phase. The magnetization was acquired upon rarefaction and reentry into the ferromagnetic, α, structure. The degree of re-magnetization depends on the strength of the ambient field, which may have been associated with a solar-system-wide magnetic field. A transient field induced by the impact event itself may have resulted in a significant, or possibly, even a dominant contribution, as well. The scaling law for catastrophic asteroid impact disaggregation imposes a constraint on the degree to which small planetary bodies may be magnetized and yet survive fragmentation by the same event. Our modeling results show it is possible Ida was magnetized when a large impact fractured a 125±22 km -radius proto-asteroid to form the Koronis family. Similarly, we calculate that Gaspra could be a magnetized fragment of a 45±15 km -radius proto-asteroid.