Asteroid Spectral Types

Asteroid Spectral Types

Asteroids are assigned a type based on spectral shape, color, and sometimes albedo. These types are thought to correspond to an asteroid's surface composition. For small bodies that are not internally differentiated, the surface and internal compositions are presumably similar, while large bodies such as 1 Ceres and 4 Vesta are known to have internal structure.

A list of types can be found at asteroid spectral classes.

Read more about Asteroid Spectral Types:  Present-day Classifications, Appraisal

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