March 5, 2001 Asteroid essay chosen for 'Best American Science Writing 2001' By Tim Stephens Assistant professor of Earth sciences Erik Asphaug wrote an essay for Scientific American last year on his favorite subject: asteroids. Titled "The Small Planets," the article appeared in the May 2000 issue and has now been selected for Ecco Press's Best American Science Writing 2001. The book, which will be available in September, is edited by Timothy Ferris, professor emeritus of journalism at UC Berkeley and the author of many popular science books and articles. Erik Asphaug, assistant professor of Earth sciences, described the bizarre physics an astronaut might find on a small asteroid. Photo: Don Kenny Asphaug studies asteroids and comets, focusing on their geologic mysteries and the collisions and tidal effects that shape their evolution. His scientific expertise is matched by a creative and engaging writing style that has enlivened the pages of the leading scientific journals, including Science and the British journal Nature. In the following passage from his essay in Scientific American, Asphaug describes the bizarre physics a visiting astronaut might encounter on a small asteroid (less than a few dozen kilometers in diameter): "Gravity is too feeble to press these so-called minor planets into even an approximately round shape. The smallest worlds instead take on a carnival of forms, resembling lizard heads, kidney beans, molars, peanuts and skulls. Because of their irregularity, gravity often tugs away from the center of mass; when added to the centrifugal forces induced by rotation, the result can seem absurd. Down might not be down. You could fall up a mountain. You could jump too high, never to return, or launch yourself into a chaotic (though majestically slow) orbit for days before landing at an unpredictable location. A pebble thrown forward might strike you on the head. A gentle vertical hop might land you 100 meters to your left or even shift the structure of the asteroid underfoot. Even the most catlike visitor would leave dust floating everywhere, a debris 'atmosphere' remaining aloft for days or weeks." Asphaug's research addresses, among other things, the potential hazards posed by near-Earth asteroids and the technologies that might be used to divert an asteroid headed for Earth. He is also interested in the possibility of extracting resources from asteroids. His research explores the roles of comets and asteroids in the evolution of planets, as well as the giant impacts that occurred in the early solar system, such as the impact of a Mars-sized body into the proto-Earth that is believed to have formed the moon. Asphaug received his B.A. in mathematics and English from Rice University. He was a high school teacher for several years before attending graduate school, teaching English, physics, Earth and planetary sciences, and marine biology. He got his Ph.D. in planetary sciences from the University of Arizona, Tucson. Asphaug was a principal investigator at the SETI Institute and NASA Ames Research Center before coming to UCSC in 1998 as an associate researcher in the Institute of Tectonics. Return to Front Page