Surface temperature of asteroid Ryugu during the day
The Japanese Hayabusa2 orbiter observed Ryugu in the thermal infrared – from 8-12 micrometres – with its Thermal Infrared Imager (TIR). This animation shows the temperature distribution on the day side over a period of approximately 1.5 asteroid days. One day/night cycle on Ryugu lasts 7.63 hours. The false colours show the surface temperature in Kelvin, in accordance with the scale on the right-hand side. After ‘sunrise’ on the asteroid, the asteroid warms up relatively quickly from 230 Kelvin (minus 43 degrees Celsius, dark blue colour fringes on the left) to 300 Kelvin (27 degrees Celsius, orange) and cools down again quickly to 230 Kelvin after ‘sunset’ (blue fringes on the right). The fast warming indicates a low density and also high porosity of the material with many voids in the asteroid. The extremely even temperature distribution on the day side indicates a very homogeneous surface material.
Surface temperature of asteroid Ryugu during the day
Surface temperature of asteroid Ryugu during the day
The Japanese Hayabusa2 orbiter observed Ryugu in the thermal infrared – from 8-12 micrometres – with its Thermal Infrared Imager (TIR). This animation shows the temperature distribution on the day side over a period of approximately 1.5 asteroid days. One day/night cycle on Ryugu lasts 7.63 hours. The false colours show the surface temperature in Kelvin, in accordance with the scale on the right-hand side. After ‘sunrise’ on the asteroid, the asteroid warms up relatively quickly from 230 Kelvin (minus 43 degrees Celsius, dark blue colour fringes on the left) to 300 Kelvin (27 degrees Celsius, orange) and cools down again quickly to 230 Kelvin after ‘sunset’ (blue fringes on the right). The fast warming indicates a low density and also high porosity of the material with many voids in the asteroid. The extremely even temperature distribution on the day side indicates a very homogeneous surface material.
Credit:
JAXA, Hayabusa2 TIR team
Duration:00:00:10