{"id":210243,"date":"2025-10-13T13:09:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T13:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/210243\/"},"modified":"2025-10-13T13:09:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T13:09:09","slug":"100000-quadrillion-asteroid-psyche-may-have-volcanoes-of-molten-metal-to-thank-for-its-shiny-appearance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/210243\/","title":{"rendered":"$100,000 quadrillion asteroid Psyche may have volcanoes of molten metal to thank for its shiny appearance"},"content":{"rendered":"

The asteroid Psyche<\/a> may have once had vents that spewed molten metal \u2014 but only if it is chemically similar to rare, metal-rich meteorites, a new study suggests. The study, which was published online July 31 in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets<\/a>, could explain why the space rock has an unusual metallic cloak.<\/p>\n

Potato-shaped asteroid Psyche, a member of the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, is unique in being super-shiny. Radar measurements indicate that, on average, its surface reflects nearly a third of the sunlight shining on it, making it at least twice as reflective as most asteroids.<\/p>\n

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Because of its reflectivity, scientists have posited that Psyche isn\u2019t just mostly metal but may actually be the exposed iron-rich heart of a planetary building block. Samuel Courville<\/a>, a planetary scientist at Arizona State University, described Psyche to Live Science in an email as “a relic from the dawn of the solar system<\/a>.” Some have estimated the value of its metals to be a staggering $100,000 quadrillion<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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However, this shininess may be mostly skin-deep. In 2020, calculations<\/a> involving updated estimates of Psyche\u2019s mass and volume suggested that the asteroid\u2019s density wasbetween 231 lbs per cubic foot (3,700 kilograms per cubic meter) and 256 lbs\/cubic foot (4,100 kg\/cubic meter). While denser than most asteroids, it\u2019s only about half the density expected if Psyche were made entirely of iron and nickel. This, along with surface heat emission data, indicated that while Psyche’s bulk is largely non-metallic, the asteroid probably possesses a metal-rich cloak.<\/p>\n

Scientists still aren\u2019t sure how Psyche acquired this coat. Although many phenomena could be responsible, the most favored at present is ferrovolcanism<\/a>. “Ferrovolcanism is like normal volcanism except instead of molten rock, the ‘lava’ is molten metal,” Courville, who wasn\u2019t involved in the new study, said.<\/p>\n

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\"A\n<\/p>\n

A cutaway view of the internal structure of one of the study’s models. Channels (yellow lines) transport molten metal from the core (yellow) through the porous mantle (in orange) to the surface. (Image credit: Jorritsma,\u00a0J. J., &\u00a0van Westrenen,\u00a0W.\u00a0(2025).\u00a0Constraints on the feasibility of ferrovolcanism on asteroid 16 Psyche.\u00a0Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets,\u00a0130, e2024JE008811.\u00a0https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1029\/2024JE008811<\/a>)<\/p>\n

First suggested in 2019, the idea is that during Psyche\u2019s infancy, its metallic core solidified from outside in, with the molten inner core becoming progressively richer in lighter elements. The difference in density between the core’s solid exterior and molten interior would have created enough pressure for the latter to pierce into the overlying mantle and the asteroid\u2019s surface, creating vents that spewed molten metal.<\/p>\n

But ferrovolcanism can only work with specific chemical compositions, since it greatly depends on how much pressure builds up in the inner core. Data from meteorites \u2014 space rocks that fall on Earth\u2019s surface \u2014 help constrain the range of these chemical combinations.<\/p>\n

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To determine the chemistry that could have spawned Psyche\u2019s iron-spewing vents, the authors of the new study \u2014 Jaap Jorritsma<\/a>, a Ph.D. student at Delft University of Technology and Win van Westrenen,<\/a> a professor of earth sciences at Vrije University in Amsterdam \u2014 created computer models of the asteroid.<\/p>\n

They considered the asteroid to have a chemical makeup similar to one of three types of meteorites<\/a>: EH-chondrites (rare, stony meteorites lacking iron), H-chondrites (commonplace, stony meteorites with moderate amounts of iron) and mesosiderites (rare, iron-rich meteorites). The researchers then ran simulations to figure out which chemical composition was most favorable for ferrovolcanism to occur.<\/p>\n

The researchers found that Psyche\u2019s bulk must be rich in metals like iron, as low iron content would lead to tiny cores in which the internal pressure generated is insufficient to push out magma. This meant that Psyche was most likely to have had ferrovolcanism if it contained large amounts of mesosiderite. H-chondrites could lead to the spewing of molten metal too, but only if they had a relatively high density. In contrast, EH-chondrites only produced tiny cores that lacked iron-rich exteriors, making them unlikely to constitute part of Psyche.<\/p>\n

The researchers expect NASA\u2019s ongoing Psyche mission<\/a> will provide evidence supporting their findings. Scheduled to arrive at Psyche by July 2029, the spacecraft will spend two years photographing the asteroid and collecting spectroscopic data. Courville said that these snapshots will reveal if surface metal is in large outcrops or flows, which would indicate that ferrovolcanism had occurred in the space rock’s past.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The asteroid Psyche may have once had vents that spewed molten metal \u2014 but only if it is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":210244,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[64,63,128,285],"class_list":{"0":"post-210243","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-space"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210243\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/210244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}