The new observations suggest water ice, mixed with organic molecules, is “widespread on the surface of the asteroid”, Humberto Campins of the University of Central Florida in Orlando reported at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society’s Division of Planetary Sciences in Fajardo, Puerto Rico, last week.<\/p>\n
That is surprising, since the asteroid’s distance from the sun means it should lose about 1 metre of ice each year. “This ice is unstable, and therefore we need a process to explain why there is ice on the surface now,” Campins said at the meeting.<\/p>\n