Kyoto University · Physics and Astronomy
Professor T. Noguchi's research lab specializes in planetary science and cosmochemistry, focusing on the experimental and analytical study of extraterrestrial materials returned from asteroids and comets. The lab investigates space weathering processes, mineralogical and chemical alterations on airless bodies, and the effects of hypervelocity impacts on primitive meteorites and interplanetary dust. Using advanced analytical techniques such as Cs-corrected STEM and synchrotron X-ray diffraction, the lab examines nanoscale surface modifications and amorphization in samples from missions like Hayabusa and Hayabusa2, providing insights into the evolution of planetary surfaces in the inner solar system. The lab also conducts hypervelocity impact simulations using light-gas guns to understand the preservation and alteration of organic and mineral phases in extraterrestrial particles captured in silica aerogel.
Figures are computed from collected data and may differ slightly.
The reflectance spectra of the most abundant meteorites, ordinary chondrites, are different from those of the abundant S-type (mnemonic for siliceous) asteroids. This discrepancy has been thought to be due to space weathering, which is an alteration of the surfaces of airless bodies exposed to the space environment. Here we report evidence of space weathering on particles returned from the S-type asteroid 25143 Itokawa by the Hayabusa spacecraft. Surface modification was found in 5 out of 10 par
Abstract On the basis of observations using Cs‐corrected STEM , we identified three types of surface modification probably formed by space weathering on the surfaces of Itokawa particles. They are (1) redeposition rims (2–3 nm), (2) composite rims (30–60 nm), and (3) composite vesicular rims (60–80 nm). These rims are characterized by a combination of three zones. Zone I occupies the outermost part of the surface modification, which contains elements that are not included in the unchanged substr
Without a protective atmosphere, space-exposed surfaces of airless Solar System bodies gradually experience an alteration in composition, structure and optical properties through a collective process called space weathering. The return of samples from near-Earth asteroid (162173) Ryugu by Hayabusa2 provides the first opportunity for laboratory study of space-weathering signatures on the most abundant type of inner solar system body: a C-type asteroid, composed of materials largely unchanged sinc
Abstract— Outside the Earth's atmosphere, silica aerogel is one of the best materials to capture finegrained extraterrestrial particles in impacts at hypervelocities. Because silica aerogel is a superior insulator, captured grains are inevitably influenced by frictional heat. Therefore, we performed laboratory simulations of hypervelocity capture by using light‐gas guns to impact into aerogels finegrained powders of serpentine, cronstedtite, and Murchison CM2 meteorite. The samples were shot at
The petrology and mineralogy of four CK chondrites, Karoonda (CK4), Maralinga (CK4), Yamato(Y)-693(CK4), and Elephant Moraine (EET) 87507 (CK5) were investigated in detail to estimate the origin of their quite heterogeneous plagioclases and the metamorphic history of CK chondrite parent body. EPMA analyses and SEM observations revealed that plagioclases in chondrules, CAIs, and matrices in CK chondrites have different compositional variations and that plagioclases in matrices display distinct re
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