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Enigmatic ice leaves cold trail

Woods, Paul

A basin-free spherical shape as an outcome of a giant impact on asteroid Hygiea

Jorda, L.; Lamy, P.; Colas, F. +44 more

(10) Hygiea is the fourth largest main belt asteroid and the only known asteroid whose surface composition appears similar to that of the dwarf planet (1) Ceres^1,2, suggesting a similar origin for these two objects. Hygiea suffered a giant impact more than 2 Gyr ago³ that is at the origin of one of the largest asteroid famili…