596 Scheila NIR spectra before & after impact

In such an impact, the ejected material from the collided body is expected to mainly come from its fresh, unweathered subsurface. Therefore, it is expected that the surface of 596 was partially or entirely refreshed during the 2010 impact.

By combining spectra of 596 from the literature and our own observations, we show that the 2010 impact event resulted in a significant slope change in the near-infrared (0.8-2.5{mu}m) spectrum of the asteroid, from moderately red (T type) before the impact to red (D type) after the impact. This provides evidence that red carbonaceous asteroids become less red with time due to space weathering, in agreement with predictions derived from laboratory experiments on the primitive Tagish Lake meteorite, which is spectrally similar to 596.