Regolith - Asteroids

Asteroids

Asteroids have regoliths developed by meteoroid impact. The final images taken by the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft of the surface of Eros are the best images we have of an asteroidal regolith. The recent Japanese Hayabusa mission also returned spectacular and surprising images of an asteroidal regolith on an asteroid so small it was thought that gravity was too low to develop and maintain a regolith. The asteroid 21 Lutetia has a layer of regolith near its north pole, which flows in landslides associated with variations in albedo.