Expected shape distribution of asteroids obtained from laboratory impact experiments

MANY asteroids are known to have irregular shapes from their periodical light curves. These irregularities in shape are thought to be due to destruction in asteroidal collisions which occur at a mean relative velocity of 5kms −1 . None of these asteroids has been directly pictured and the actual shape distribution of them is unknown. We examine here the shape of the fragments produced in laboratory high-velocity impact experiments between two solid bodies, and we find that the obtained shape distribution may be applied to asteroids of radius less than a few km.