Starship Asterisk*

NASA's upcoming mission to the asteroid Psyche could look for signs of past eruptions, and evidence of 'ferrovolcanism' may also turn up in iron meteorites

As a metallic asteroid such as Psyche cooled and solidified, iron volcanoes may have erupted onto its surface. (Credit: Elena Hartley)

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Metallic asteroids are thought to have started out as blobs of molten iron floating in space. As if that's not strange enough, scientists now think that as the metal cooled and solidified, volcanoes spewing liquid iron could have erupted through a solid iron crust onto the surface of the asteroid.

This scenario emerged from an analysis by planetary scientists at UC Santa Cruz whose investigation was prompted in part by NASA's plans to launch a probe to Psyche, the largest metallic asteroid in the solar system. Francis Nimmo, professor of Earth and planetary sciences, said he was interested in the composition of metallic asteroids indicated by analyses of iron meteorites, so he had graduate student Jacob Abrahams work on some simple models of how the asteroids cooled and solidified.

"One day he turned to me and said, 'I think these things are going to erupt,'" Nimmo said. "I'd never thought about it before, but it makes sense because you have a buoyant liquid beneath a dense crust, so the liquid wants to come up to the top." ...

• Geophysical Research Letters (online 08 Apr 2019) DOI: 10.1029/2019GL082542 (preprint)

neufer wrote: ↑Tue Apr 09, 2019 4:41 pm Most Volcanoes Erupt Mulberry Jam Sandwiches Under Normal Pressures

Fred the Cat wrote: ↑Wed Apr 10, 2019 3:14 pm

neufer wrote: ↑Tue Apr 09, 2019 4:41 pm Most Volcanoes Erupt Mulberry Jam Sandwiches Under Normal Pressures

That’s an “old” monic!

bystander wrote: ↑Wed Apr 10, 2019 4:07 pm

Fred the Cat wrote: ↑Wed Apr 10, 2019 3:14 pm

neufer wrote: ↑Tue Apr 09, 2019 4:41 pm
Most Volcanoes Erupt Mulberry Jam Sandwiches Under Normal Pressures

That’s an “old” monic!

Pressures isn't a planet.